Echos of the Bluebird
by Shitsuren69
Summary: AU. 15 year-old Izaya was given one warning about Ikebukuro. "Stay clear of Ryugamine Mikado... Or you'll end up as his play thing." He never was good at heeding warnings, especially when it came to the hot Informant. Role-reversal. IzayaxMikado.
1. Entrance of the Red Bird

Deannoned for this request in the drrrkink lj page:

"In some weird way what if Mikado was the one that was older and was the informant while Izaya (Shizuo and Shinra) is still in school? Anri as his secretary would be fun and Kida still as the leader of the Yellows would be great. (Both also older) Would like for Izaya to still TOP in this one, it'd just be funny to see a flustered older Mikado."

This has been edited from the lj version for whatever reasons. Please enjoy!

I do not own.

Warning: AU, OOCness due to the background change, eventual yaoi, appearance of novel-only characters (later)

* * *

The subway station of Ikebukuro was always busy. There were many people who traveled to different cities to work as well as many people coming and leaving to the city for their own personal reasons. So to see a teenager leaning against a pillar with a duffel bag at his feet wasn't anything out of place.

This teen was, for the most part, average looking. He had short black hair that spiked every which direction. He was adorned in all black except for his shirt, which was colored red. In one hand, he had his cellphone out and was glaring intensely at the screen. His lips were pulled into a humorless smirk, and anyone walking by could easily tell that he was annoyed. Complete with crossed legs, he looked like the poster child for the average angsty teenager.

If there was a single thing that made him stand out, it was the color of his eyes. It was colored red, just like his shirt, just like blood.

"Ah," the teen spoke to no one. "When's he getting here? I'm so bored."

He glanced around. Everyone walked by him without a care in the world. It was no one's business why he was here, and likewise, it was none of his business as to why they were here. Despite that, he was sorely tempted to talk to someone, just to see their reaction. Just to be out of norm.

"Normality is so boring," he mumbled to himself.

"Ah Izaya! So sorry I was late!" came the voice of the person the teen had been waiting for. The person didn't sound sorry at all.

The owner of the voice had a bright cheerful smile. With his square glasses and his boyish features, he looked like a typical school boy nerd. To top it all off, the boy was wearing a long white doctor's coat, almost as if he had rushed over from a science lab. And knowing this boy as well as the teen did, he wouldn't be surprised if he had ran out after a science experiment.

The boy made his way towards the angsty teen, better known as Izaya. The red-eyed teen gave his friend a stern glare.

"It couldn't be helped! Celty wanted to finish watching the TV special!" the nerdy boy protested. "Besides, it's not like you don't know your way around Ikebukuro anyways!"

It was true enough accusation. Izaya had been born in Ikebukuro. However, right before he could start elementary school, he had been sent away to a school in a faraway countryside town. At first, Izaya had been fine with the change in scenery. Unfortunately, this feeling of tranquility didn't last for very long. Soon enough, he had been itching to return to the city, any city, as long as he could get out of the boring town. Unlucky for him, he had to wait until high school. But the fact was that he was out of that silly town.

And back in Ikebukuro.

"How can you say such cold-hearted thing, Shinra? And leave me to fend for myself in a foreign place?" Izaya whined. "Even after I picked you, of all my friends, to stay with?"

"That's because Izaya is really unpopular and has absolutely no friends!" Shinra said with a bright smile. He then motioned for the teen to follow him as he led the way out of the subway station.

When Izaya had told his parents that he wished to return to Ikebukuro back in elementary school, his parents laughed at him. When he tried again in middle school, his parents made the sound that old grannies make when they thought that their grandchild was being nonsensical yet cute. At the end of middle school, Izaya gave up asking and just flat out told them he was coming.

They agreed on one condition: Izaya had to find a place to live for himself.

Tch. Parents! You try to assassinate them once almost ten years ago and they treat you like the scum of the earth!

So here Izaya was, stuck with Shinra until he could start providing for himself. This wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for the fact that… well, Shinra wasn't exactly normal either.

"Celty my love! Did you wait long for us?" Shinra asked as he ran towards his… well… Izaya was never too sure how to describe the person in relation to Shinra.

The person waiting for them was without a doubt a woman. She wore black skin-tight clothing, probably for aerodynamic reasons, and a yellow kitty-eared motorcycle helmet. She stood next to an all-black motorcycle that had a side-seat attached to it. Although she appeared normal enough, Izaya knew she was anything but. Years of being Shinra's friend had thought him that there were very few normal humans in this world that can hold that creep's attention.

"You remember Izaya, right?" Shinra asked pointing at his friend. He then pointed at Celty. "And I doubt you need any introduction, Izaya. Now let's go home!"

The woman took out her PDA. With it, she wrote, "It's been a long time. Have you been well?"

Izaya grinned. "Ora? I feel so touched! The legendary Black Bike has taken interest in my health!"

That was correct. Despite looking normal, this woman was actually the urban legend of Ikebukuro: the Black Bike. Why she was living with someone like Shinra was never explained to Izaya, but the teen had some guesses. It probably had to do with Shinra's father, Shingen, who worked for Nebula. Well, whatever the reason, it really wasn't Izaya's business. Besides, what would the teen do with the knowledge? Sell it to random people? The thought was so laughable that it wasn't even funny anymore. First of all, that would be a rude way to pay back for Celty and Shinra's hospitality. Secondly and lastly, it wasn't like anyone would buy information from a high-school freshmen. Something about no reliability or what not.

"Celty, you don't have to pretend to be nice to this guy," Shinra said with a pout. He pulled her towards the motorcycle. "He's nothing but an eyesore!"

"I protest! I'm rather well-loved back in the small town, thank you very much!"

Shinra gave him a look that said that he didn't believe it at all. Izaya pouted. "Why is everyone so mean to me?"

Celty shook her head and held up her PDA. "Please stop causing a ruckus. Let's get going."

* * *

Izaya sat in the side car with his duffel bag. By his side, Celty drove with Shinra clinging tightly to her back. The red-eyed teen looked around at the city scape that they passed by. It had been nearly ten years since he was last in this city, and already everything looked so different. Different shops, different office buildings, even different parking spaces all seemed to have filled up his memory of the city. All the searches on the internet did not do justice to actually coming back to his home.

As they passed, certain groups of people caught his attention. Few people were wearing the color yellow somewhere on their persons, and another group wore blue, almost like…

"Color gangs?"

"Ah? So you've noticed? Yeah. I was hoping you wouldn't notice and they'll kill you off, but I suppose I'll have no such luck," Shinra said with a sigh. He pointed towards the group with the yellow clothing. "They're known as the Yellow Scarves. They're led by Kida Masaomi." Then he pointed towards those with blue clothing. "Those over there are the Blue Squares. They're the natural enemies of the Yellow Scarves. I believe the new leader is… Kuronuma Aoba? Yeah, that sounds about right."

"Blue Squares? Wasn't Izumi Ran the leader of it a while back?" The teen found himself tensing. There were holes in his information? If there was one of the few things that he proudly claimed as his talent, it was information gathering. Whether it be for a school project or for personal interests, he always loved research. So when he realized that he was going to return to Ikebukuro, he did his share of the research as well.

"You're so behind times! I thought you were using the internet to keep track of everything? Izumi-san got arrested a while back… Uh… Let's see… He was believed to have caused explosion at the Yagiri Pharmacy."

"Ah, I remember now," Izaya said, tension slowly dissipating. "The explosion was so bad the pharmacy had to close afterwards, right?"

"That's the right one."

Izaya hummed softly under his breath. So there were still missing information in his research. He couldn't fight the smirk that claimed his lips. "So Shinra, is there anything else I should know about Ikebukuro?"

The bespectacled boy looked thoughtful at that. "You are crazy in your own right, so you probably know most of the gossip there is to know about Ikebukuro like the Slasher's Return or whatever. But if there's any warning that I can give, it would probably be… 'Stay clear of Ryugamine Mikado.'"

The red-eyed teen furrowed his eyebrow. "That's one hell of a name," he muttered to himself.

"… Or you'll end up as his play thing."


	2. Bluebird's Introduction

And thus we have the second chapter.

This has been edited from the lj version for whatever reasons.

I don't own.

Warning: AU, OOCness, Yaoi, appearance of novel-only characters (later)

Recap: 15 year-old Izaya moves back to Ikebukuro after about 9 years of absence to find that the city has indeed changed.

* * *

"Hello everybody," Izaya exclaimed when it was time for his introduction to his new class. "My name is Orihara Izaya. I lived in a small town for the last nine years, so I'm not too sure about how to survive in the city. Please treat me well!"

The class gave him a half-hearted applause, and he was allowed to sit in the back window seat. Shinra was sitting near the door, which meant that he was much too far away to pass notes to. Well, that was fine with the red-eyed boy. He would just make more friends. After all, he now had so much more information to gather on his new classmates.

* * *

"Izaya! Let's eat lunch together! I'll even introduce you to a cool friend!"

It wasn't like Izaya was planning to do anything special during lunch. So to be introduced to someone seemed like a good idea to him. Of course, that was his thought before he met the guy.

"Izaya, this is Heiwajima Shizuo. Shizuo, this is Orihara Izaya! Get along now!"

Really, Shinra could be an empty-headed buffoon sometimes, expecting Izaya to get along with someone like that. The person the bespectacled boy introduced was obviously some sort of a yankee. His hair was dyed blonde and he had an angry scowl on his face. He wore the typical Raira uniform like Izaya and Shinra did, but on this guy, it just made him look like some sort of a delinquent from a manga. All that was missing was a cigarette in one hand and chains on his pants.

Izaya's immediate dislike was obviously reciprocated by the other party, because Shizuo, as soon as his eyes met Izaya's, growled. Like a dog.

"Aw how cute! Are you some sort of a dog?" was out of his own mouth, and before anyone could comprehend what had happened, the locker that was right by the wall came flying towards Izaya's head.

He ducked just in time to hear the locker crash harshly into the wall behind him. Slowly, he lifted his head.

"Die," said Shizuo as he reached for another locker. So not only did this guy look like a yankee, but he was also super violent like one as well. Tch, whoever said that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover was a liar.

Izaya dodged yet another locker that came towards him. Somehow, this was not how he imagined his first day of school in the city to go.

* * *

There he sat in the principal's office. The yankee was sitting on the other side of the room, unconstrained. How was it that Izaya got into trouble for this? It wasn't his fault that stupid idiot went crazy over a single comment and began throwing lockers at him. If anything, he was the victim here! And yet the principal was treating them both like criminals.

"Just wait until your guardians get here," he had said.

And since then, the blonde yankee buried his face in his hands and hadn't looked up. To say that Izaya was bored was an understatement. No one would talk to him, and no one would release him back to his class. All he could do was sit there like an obedient puppy and wait for Shingen to get there and defuse whatever the principal was claiming he did.

A deep sigh escaped his mouth. He thought that some sort of sound would rile up the yankee, who might start throwing something around, which would at the least allow Izaya to escape to the clinic or something, but there was no such luck.

Instead, the door slammed open and a flash of black ran in the room. "Shizuo!" the person shouted before flinging themselves at the boy. "Thank god, you're alive."

This new person was obviously not their age. Izaya would estimate his age to be around mid-20's. This person wore a black fur jacket that obscured most of Izaya's view. The fur was attached to the edges of the hood and the ends of the jacket; the only other clothing that he could see from his angle was the black jeans and shoes the man wore. It was a fashion sense that he could agree with for the most part, after all black was his favorite color to wear as well (if only he wasn't wearing the blue Raira uniform, he would be wearing his typical blacks). The only thing Izaya could not quite understand was the black fur jacket. Why was this man dressed so warmly in this warm weather?

The man released the yankee and checked to make sure the boy wasn't harmed. "Whew, you look like you're okay, too. That's such a relief," he said. He pressed his forehead against Shizuo's. "When I heard that you got into a fight, I thought you might have been hurt."

Izaya couldn't see the yankee's reaction to the man's words, but he did hear the clear, "S… stupid! Like hell I'll be hurt!" He didn't have to see it to imagine the blush on the blonde's face.

Red eyes narrowed at the duo. It made him sick, really. Did they have to show that much affection in public? No, it wasn't out of jealousy that Izaya thought this. He was just annoyed at having to witness such an intimate moment for the boy who caused him such trouble. Well, he supposed this was just one more thing he could add to the pile of researches he had to do later.

"Ah Ryugamine-san," the principal said as he walked towards the duo. "I'm glad you could make it."

Izaya froze. That name sounded much too familiar. But it couldn't be…?

"Principal…" the man said as he turned to face the head of the school. "It's been long."

And finally Izaya could see the man's face. Eerie blue shown even under the florescent light, and short spiky hair whipped around lightly. Something about the look in the man's eye, something that shown in the moment captured the young boy's heart forever.

"I'm sure Principal will keep his side of the bargain and keep things quiet?" the man asked with a smile that brought chills down Izaya's spine. "After all, the destruction cost had already been paid for."

"That… That's not the problem," the principal protested. "It's…"

Izaya felt their gazes on him and he looked back at them defiantly. He understood something here. There was no way that Shinra could be interested in a normal human. Therefore, the yankee was something special, and know that he calmly thought about it, normal humans couldn't lift heavy lockers with that ease, right? Thus, to keep the blonde in school, despite whatever he destroyed, this man in front of him must have made a deal with the principal. But the deal didn't include people like Izaya, who were victims to the yankee's strength.

In situations like this, Izaya held all the power. He grinned, knowing full well he held all the cards.

"Hello," he said to the man with blue eyes. "My name is Orihara Izaya."

Izaya expected some sort of threat. Or better yet, maybe some sort of a bribe. If this man went far enough to control the principal, then certainly, he would be willing to go above and beyond to protect Shizuo from Izaya's wrath. Although it was a logical way of thinking, something about it really irked Izaya. Almost like he didn't want there to be such a close bond between the yankee and this man…? Psh, that was preposterous.

Then the man did something completely unexpected.

He bowed to Izaya.

"Oi! Don't bow to the likes of him!" The yankee shouted in the background. The man held up a hand to silence him. And just like Izaya had predicted, the strong boy became quiet, like a good dog.

"I apologize for any harm that may have befallen on you," the man told Izaya. "I will pay for any hospital fees that may come from this. But if you know what's good for you, you will leave Shizuo alone."

"Ah, Ryugamine-san, threatening a child is-"

"This isn't a threat, Principal, Izaya-kun. This…" The man's face was only a breath away from Izaya's. Red eyes stared into blue ones, wonder and amazement filling the teen for the first time in his life. Was that his heartbeat that echoed in the room? He didn't remember ever feeling like this before. What was it about this man…?

"… This is but a warning."

Then the man smiled as if he had just been talking about the weather. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card. "Contact me if you have any problems at all!" the man told him with a friendly smile. The sudden change in behavior did not go unnoticed by anybody in the room, least of all Izaya. He couldn't help but to gulp.

The man turned around, hugged Shizuo goodbye, and walked out of the office. The yankee glared at Izaya, the gaze that clearly told him that this guy would most likely become his enemy for the rest of their high school lives, if not the rest of their lives. It was annoying. Like that guy could hear Izaya's heartbeat when the man had been close…

Izaya shook his head and looked at the business card the man had left in his hands.

"Ryugamine Mikado, Information Broker."

* * *

The rest of the school day went by relatively fast. Izaya didn't really care for anyone there anymore, and he stopped paying attention a long time ago. Even when walking home with Shinra, he wasn't really listening to the other boy's prattle. There was someone on his mind, and Izaya just could not get that person out.

Celty was waiting for them in the apartment. Shingen was out, which was why no one came to "claim" Izaya when the principal clearly contacted both of their guardians. Well, that was fine with the teen. He wasn't going to ask Shingen to take responsibility for him anyways. And it wasn't like Shingen would care for him the way Mikado did with the yankee, not that Izaya wanted that kind of relatinoship with Shingen. The teen shuddered at the thought. It was just such a nasty image!

Izaya shook his head. Why did all of his thoughts always return to the blue-eyed man? What was it about him that made Izaya's heart pound and mind spin? The teen bit his thumb. Curious and curiouser…

"You're not listening at all, are you Izaya?"

Shinra's voice brought the teen back down to earth. A quick glance around told him that he had been staring blankly at his homework for the last two hours since they returned to Shinra's place. Shinra must have been blabbering the whole entire time. How did Izaya managed to tune him out for that long?

"I said what do you want to eat for dinner?"

Izaya gave a hopeless shrug. "What's there to eat?"

"Celty said we have potatoes in the fridge."

"… Why are they in the fridge?"

This also begged the question of just how exactly Shinra managed to fight off hunger for so long. Celty, it made sense, since she had no head or mouth to eat. Shingen was never home, Celty didn't cook, and yet Shinra was a healthy nerdy boy. Could it be they ate out all the time? With Shingen and Celty both working, they should have enough money… Wait, did Celty even work? Now that Izaya paused to think about it, what exactly did Celty do?

In his contemplation, he completely missed the doorbell ringing. Shinra went to answer the door. There, his friendly neighbor stood with a shy smile.

"Would Shinra-kun like to join us for dinner?" he asked in the perfect manner as he always did. "I'll be paying, of course."

The voice was oddly familiar and Izaya couldn't help but to frown. He had heard that voice sometime before… When was it? He peeked into the corridor to see what was going on.

"That sounds great! Let's go right now!" Shinra said, completely forgetting about Izaya as he rushed out towards the door.

And it was then that Izaya saw it. The black fur jacket.

"Shinra!" he shouted without thinking.

Everyone paused by the door. Then the bespectacled boy looked annoyed at Izaya, sighed, and then said, "That's Izaya, but you've already met."

And there he stood, Ryugamine Mikado, in that ridiculous black fur jacket. Izaya couldn't help but to freeze in place as his mind processed what was going on.

Fact 1: Shinra knew Heiwajima Shizuo, who seemed close to Ryugamine Mikado… Fact 2: Shinra warned Izaya to stay away from Ryugamine Mikado… Fact 3: Shinra wasn't a starving kid, despite having literally nothing to eat and not knowing how to cook…

Conclusion: Ryugamine Mikado was Shinra's neighbor and took care of the little brat when he could.

"Hello, Izaya-kun. We meet again," Mikado said with a polite inclination of his head. "Of course, you're invited to come along as well."

Was this fate? The very person that he couldn't stop thinking about was standing right in front of him, waiting. Izaya ran to him.

When he was at the doorway, he realized something that made his heart clench painfully. Heiwajima Shizuo was there, holding Mikado's left hand. For the first time in his life, he wished he could replace another human. Shizuo was wearing a white sweater (again, why these people insisted on wearing such thick clothing in such warm weather confused Izaya), and he growled lightly as Izaya approached.

"Celty-san, are you coming?" Mikado asked.

Celty shook her head and pointed to the TV. Everyone else nodded in understanding, and the oddling group of four made their way down the elevator, Shizuo's hand never letting go of Mikado's. Izaya could swear the yankee was giving him a mocking smirk from time to time.

"So how do you like Ikebukuro thus far, Izaya-kun?" Mikado asked.

The teen was surprised to say the least. He didn't think this man would be interested in the life of a typical teenager like Izaya. It was… flattering. And if the glare he was receiving from the yankee or the suspicious glances from Shinra was any indication, he had Mikado intrigued.

"I haven't seen enough of it to be able to judge," Izaya said. It wasn't a complete lie. He had been on the internet for the past few days, even before he came to Ikebukuro. He knew of all the tourist sites, all the dangers and safe zones, and even the about the red light district. He knew to stay out of the ways of the color gangs and the Awakusu-kai, he knew which restaurants had the highest reviews, and he even knew that there had been recently someone going around "slashing" people again, which was why people have dubbed this new event "Slasher's Return." He knew all of these, but he hadn't been out and about in the streets.

"Ah, that's such a shame," Mikado said with a soft smile. "Maybe you can ask Shizu-chan to show you around sometimes."

"Shizu… chan?" Izaya laughed at the nickname. Seriously? That fearsome yankee had such a… cute name? "Pffff, Shizu-chan."

The yankee tensed at the nickname, clearly not enjoying this conversation. "What? I'm not doing anything for that flea!" he shouted. "And you have no right to call me Shizu-chan!" he yelled at Izaya. His grip on Mikado's hand seemed to tighten.

"Flea? Shizuo, isn't that a little harsh…?"

It looked like Mikado was trying to rescue his hand out from Shizuo's grip. Then again, if that yankee had enough power to throw around lockers, what could he do to someone's hand, let alone someone who looked as delicate as Mikado? Izaya was ready to intervene when someone new spoke up.

"Ah, Mikado! You have children with you! Good, good! Children good for sushi!"

There was a shocked pause as the three teenagers all looked at one another. The speaker was a giant of a man. He was black and had a strange accent, which made Izaya think that he was probably a foreigner. He was wearing white clothing decorated by blue knots, much like the people of the old Japan.

"Simon, I think you got that a little… wrong," Mikado said, looking at the man with great amusement, surrendering his hand to Shizuo's grip. "Shouldn't it be… 'Sushi is good for children'?"

"Ah! That too!"

Somehow, Izaya really didn't want to eat here. But Mikado just laughed good-naturally and motioned everyone in towards the door of a restaurant called "Russian Sushi." He supposed this man, Simon, must be from Russia then. Now there was something he didn't see every day, a black Russian man in Japan selling sushi.

As soon as the four walked in, a blur of blue past them as they hugged Mikado tightly. "Mikado-senpai!" shouted the person as they rubbed their face in Mikado's jacket. "What took you so long? Kida-senpai was being a meanie-head to me!"

"Was not!" came the angry retort as a man with a yellow scarf around his neck made his way over to them. He not-so-gently pried the man in blue away from Mikado. "I'm teaching you about the truth of society! You should feel honored to be learning from the great Kida Masaomi!"

"Why? So I can be a failure like you?" snapped the blue-clad man.

Izaya blinked. He had heard about the two of them before. Usually, they were in the streets of Ikebukuro, fighting against one another with their respective gang members backing them up. Yes, that was correct. The man with the yellow scarf around his neck, with dyed blonde hair and brown eyes, was Kida Masaomi, the leader of the Yellow Scarf that Shinra had warned him about. The man in blue clothing, with baby face and wide eyes of a young teen, was undoubtedly Kuronuma Aoba, the leader of Blue Sqaures that Shinra had also warned about.

And both were somehow related to Mikado...? Izaya was beginning to understand why Shinra had given him that warning. But at the same time, he couldn't help but to feel a little cheated. Shinra wanted Izaya to miss this much of excitement? How could he even think of such terrible thing?

"Now, now," Mikado said gently as he began to push the two towards one of the tables in the corner. "Let's eat first and argue later. The last thing we want is for Simon to find out that you guys were fighting again, right?"

Ah, there was that look again. Izaya looked at Mikado with a quizzical glance. Why did this man switch back and forth between the meek look he had on before to this one of a leader?

The two grown men paled at the mention of Simon and began to walk towards their table. There, two ladies were already waiting for them. One of them had short brown hair and a kind of smile that made Izaya wonder if that woman was normal. She had on a nice white blouse and a yellow bandana tied around her left wrist. Kida went straight to her, kissed her lightly on her forehead and sat, his arms protectively around her. So this must be the rumored Mikajima Saki, Kida's beloved. Izaya had heard about their story from other people before, but he really wasn't all that interested in that right now.

The other lady was someone Izaya couldn't quite place. She had short black hair in a very old-fashioned cut. She had round glasses upon her face, and with a body like hers, she probably had many who wished to court her. However, there were two things that diminished her attractiveness. One was the eye patch that she wore under her glasses and over her left eye. The other was the fact that she had no right arm. These two things made her look almost as scary as a yakuza member.

"Izaya-kun, let me introduce you," Mikado said as he ushered everyone else to sit down. "You probably know Shinra and Shizuo from school, so I'll skip those two. The blonde man with the yellow scarf is Kida Masaomi, my best friend. The lady at his side is Mikajima Saki-san, his 'one true love.'"

"Hey! I heard that air quote! Our love is the most powerfulest love there is in the world! You're just jealous!"

"The one with the glasses is Sonohara Anri; she's my other best friend. And the annoying guy in blue is Kuronuma Aoba-"

"Senpai! Such cold words! Even after all the things I do for you, I'm still just an 'annoying guy?'"

"And everyone, this is Orihara Izaya-kun. He's Shinra-kun's tenant. Please all get along nicely!"

* * *

"Aw, that's so cute! Shizuo, you're starting to look like me!" Kida said with a loud laugh. "Did Mikado give you my sweater to wear?"

At the realization that the sweater he was wearing belonged to this obnoxious man, the yankee wasted no time taking the sweater off and throwing at the gang leader's face. He then turned to Mikado, looking peeved.

"You said it was yours!"

"It is," Mikado protested. "Masaomi gave it to me when he outgrew it. And… well, you do look adorable in it so…" He blushed as he trailed off, which in turn caused the yankee's face to turn red as well. The Yellow Scarves leader was shouting something in protest, but Izaya gave up caring.

Instead, he bit harshly into his fatty tuna, imaging that he was biting off the head of a certain yankee. How close were those two, exactly? There was something strange in the way that Mikado treated Shizuo. Something that he didn't do with Masaomi or Aoba or Anri. It frustrated the red-eyed teen to no end.

"You're jealous?" asked one Sonohara Anri who was sitting on Izaya's left side.

"Whua? No way!" Izaya told her with a laugh. "What would I possibly be jealous of?"

Her eyes bore through him, and the teen vaguely wondered if she knew exactly what he was thinking. Her lips thinned into a line. "It would be wise to stay clear of Mikado," she said, echoing Shinra's warning. The teen couldn't help but to shudder. Was her eye always such a vibrant red color…?

"For your own good."


	3. Bluebird's Mystery

I swear that this will be IzayaxMikado. This story, however, insists on a long, complicated back story that is taking a little longer than I thought to set up. But as soon as that's out of the way, IzayaxMikado will follow... probably.

This has been edited from the lj version for whatever reasons.

I don't own.

Warning: AU, OOCness, Yaoi, appearance of novel-only characters (Thus far: Aoba)

Recap: Izaya is introduced to Ryugamine Mikado, the informant, and the people that he holds dear.

* * *

School was boring him to tears. Izaya slumped in his seat. Shizuo was in another class, so it wasn't like he can provoke the yankee and get him in trouble or anything. Shinra was too far away and even if Izaya wanted to send him a note, the nerd would probably just ignore it. That left texting someone. But who could he possibly text now? Shinra was out of question. Celty would most likely scold him for not paying attention in class.

What about Mikado?

It was a ridiculous idea. There was no way that the informant wouldn't be busy. No way that the informant wouldn't scold him like Celty would. Also no way that the phone number on Mikado's business card actually went to his cellphone. But the idea had taken hold and rooted deeply into his being. Well, there was no harm in trying, right?

He had already registered Mikado's number on the business card on his phone. All he would have to do is type a message and send it to him. But what would he say?

[Hey this is Izaya, are you busy?]

Well, it was innocent enough. Izaya figured why not. He clicked send.

Few minutes later, his cellphone lit up, saying that he had a message. Could it be? Izaya looked. It was!

[Shouldn't you be paying attention in school?]

[But I'm so bored! Hey, hey, do you always give everyone your cellphone number?]

[Only to those in need.]

Izaya paused at that text. What did that mean? "In need?" The teen wasn't in need of anything. Why would he write that?

"Orihara-san, answer this question."

Oh right. He was still in school. Izaya quickly put his cellphone away. "O-kay!" he said in a sing-song voice.

* * *

"We didn't get to talk to Orihara-san the other day, so we were wondering if you wanted to eat lunch with us!" said a whole bunch of girls as they swarmed his desk.

Izaya smiled brightly at them. "Sure thing!" After all, girls were the perfect way to get information. Besides, Shinra said that he would be busy doing something or another, and wouldn't be able to grace Izaya with his "glorious" presence.

He was certain the girls all introduced themselves, but he wasn't really all that interested. He did file away their names for later purposes, however. Then they all gathered around him and began to eat, all chatting about so-and-so's boyfriend or what not.

After long wait of mindless talk, the chatter finally turned into a more interesting direction.

"Did you hear? The Slasher struck again last night."

"Ah, how scary. You can't go out at nights anymore!"

Izaya couldn't help but to think: "Liars. I bet you go out and have fun alllllll night without worries!" However, he just smiled on the outside and said pleasantly, "Can you please tell me about this Slasher?"

"Izaya-kun probably never heard about it before, right? Ah, is it okay if we call you Izaya-kun? We're going to be friends, after all."

The teen just smiled pleasantly. However, he couldn't help but to think that he already knew more than these girls on the topic of the Slasher.

"Well, no one really knows what the Slasher looks like. All we know is that it's some sort of a creep that slices open people and leave them to bleed to death."

"Sounds frightening," Izaya added.

The girls all nodded vigorously. "We know! It's so scary! On top of that, the Slasher only goes after people out alone at nights. And if you talk to any victims about it… All they say is, 'I don't know, I don't remember.' But if you prod them long enough, some of them remember blood red eyes, thirsty for blood!"

A shriek followed the end of that sentence, and all Izaya could do was flinch away from the sound and cover up his ears. What was it with girls and screaming? He just couldn't understand them. Well, he supposed making 'friends' and gossiping would be good for his image. It would also help him when he decided that he wanted to get more information. Granted, they weren't exactly the most reliable sources, but he supposed it was good enough for now.

"Anyways, Izaya-kun, have you looked around Ikebukuro yet? We can give you a tour if you'd like?"

They were looking at him expectedly. And to be truthful, he wasn't sure if he could continue to be barricaded by their nonstop squealing. "It's alright. Shizuo-kun said that he'll give me a tour."

"Eh? You're going with Heiwajima-san?" one of the girls asked, looking baffled.

"No, no, no! That's such a bad idea!" another girl exclaimed, shaking her head furiously.

"I know, he's so violent! Wait, didn't he try to hurt you yesterday?"

"That was a misunderstanding," Izaya said. It wasn't. It really wasn't. But if Mikado cared for Shizuo (which he did, if the display yesterday meant anything by it), then surely if Izaya friended the yankee, the informant would also pay attention to him? "He said as an apology, he'll show me around." Another lie, but hey, these girls didn't have to know.

"Well I suppose being with someone like that would be better than traveling alone. He could probably protect you with his crazy strength and all that. Just don't make him angry."

"Oh yeah, I heard that he used to be a complete beast in middle school. He sent someone to the hospital nearly every week, right?"

Izaya really wasn't surprised by that rumor. It would also explain why Mikado would have to bribe (or perhaps it was threaten, the teen wasn't too sure) the principal. A small knot of anger gnawed in the pit of his stomach. Why was it that everything he found out about the two made him angry? Why did Mikado care about that yankee so much? What was so special about him, other than being an idiot and super strong? Why did Mikado shower that brute with so much attention?

"That was for a while," one of the girl said. "I went to middle school with him, so I remember. He was really violent back then. Literally nothing could stop him. It got to the point that not even the administrators could tell him to stop or try and expel him. Then suddenly, he just stopped coming to school for a month. And when he returned, he mellowed out. I mean, he still snaps from time to time, but as long as you are careful around him, he doesn't get really violent, you know?"

This caught Izaya's attention. Could it be that in that month, Mikado and Shizuo met? It would explain why the two were so close. But there were still so many questions that were still left unanswered. He supposed if he really wanted more answers on this, he could ask Shinra, but knowing that glasses-wearing boy, he would probably tell him to ask Shizuo. And the last thing Izaya wanted was to speak to the yankee. This meant that there was Mikado to ask questions of. However, he was an informant. He would most likely ask for money, which Izaya at this moment in time did not have. Well, of course, there was one other source Izaya hadn't considered yet…

"Does him mellowing out have anything to do with Ryugamine Mikado?" Izaya asked.

"I know him!" one of the girls shouted. "He's the really cute guy that Kida-san and Kuronuma-san always argue about!"

"The informant, right?"

"Oh, right! I remember now. He's the one taking care of Shizuo-kun, right? He used to pick Shizuo-kun up all the time during middle school!"

Izaya ignored the pang he felt in his heart. Instead, he focused on the new-found information. If Mikado used to pick Shizuo up from school, then wouldn't it also stand to reason that the informant might come by to pick the blonde up? If that was so, then Izaya could see him today!

The teen could not hold back the grin on his face for the rest of the day.

* * *

"Your grin is creepy," Shinra said in greeting at the end of the school day.

Izaya continued to grin. "You're such a mean friend! How can you say such cruel words?"

"What's gotten you in such a good mood?"

"What are you talking about? I'm always this happy!"

"Are you sick or something?" was Shinra's automatic response. "Well that's a shame. Mikado-san offered to give you a tour of Ikebukuro. But if you're sick, I guess you'll just have to go home alone while he takes us out to-"

"Mikado-san… did?" Why did that simple sentence cause his heart to flutter? "I'm not sick! I'm not sick at all!"

Shinra gave him a knowing look. "Didn't I tell you to stay clear of him?" he grumbled. He let out a loud sigh. "You're not the first to get caught by him, you know."

Red eyes narrowed at that. "What are you talking about? I'm not captured."

The two stared at each other, very aware of the other students walking by them. Shinra's eyes were soft; they were the eyes of someone who had already read the ending of a tragedy. Izaya's eyes were defiant; someone who had guessed that the end lead to a tragedy, but refused to believe it.

"Let's not keep Mikado-san waiting."

* * *

In front of the school by the gates, Mikado stood with Shizuo, waiting for the two. Besides them was a white van with an anime girl painted on the side. Izaya tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his heart when he saw that yankee and the informant was smiling as they chatted. Shinra waved to them as he yelled. Mikado looked over and smiled at Izaya.

"Hey there," he said. "I'm glad you can make it."

As if on cue, the van door open and two over-enthused people jumped out. One was a man with blonde hair and squinty eyes. He had on a thin blue sweater and white pants. The one next to him was a woman. She had on a black hat with her bangs peeking out. She wore a black sweater-dress that fell to her knees and black boots. She was also smiling; hers almost like a twin version of the man's. Something about the two's smiles put Izaya on edge, but he wasn't too sure why.

"I'm Karisawa Erika!" the man shouted.

"And I'm Yumasaki Walker!" the woman said.

From the expressions everyone else was making, Izaya was certain that this was not the case at all. When it became obvious that no one believed them, the two made a face and declared that everyone there was boring before they both (in unison!) turned around, crossed their arms, and made their way back into the van.

"Did they practice that?" Izaya wondered out loud.

"Yeah, actually. They've been at it for a while," said another man as he climbed out of the van. He had a bandana around his head. He wore a black turtle neck and cargo pants. If Izaya didn't know any better, he would argue that this man was some sort of a thug. He edged towards Mikado, as if he was going to protect the informant. However, his feelings were for naught.

"Dota-chin!" Mikado said with a bright smile, much to Izaya's chagrin. Shinra was giving him that look again, Izaya ignored him.

"Mikado, don't call me that," the man said with an annoyed scowl. "Anyways, hurry up with your business here. We don't have all day."

Why did that sound so much like they were going on a date…? Izaya shook away the mental pictures of this man taking Mikado out on a date. That couldn't be at all. There was no way that Mikado could possibly date someone who looked like a thug like him! Then again, the informant did surround himself with someone like Anri and the leaders of the two rival color gangs and Heiwajima Shizuo…

"Ah, this is Orihara Izaya-kun," Mikado said pointing Izaya out. "Izaya-kun, this is Kadota Kyohei. You've met Karisawa-san and Yumasaki-san, they're the two in the van. And the one driving the van is Togusa Saburou."

At the mention of the name, someone waved their hand from the driver's seat. Izaya muttered a soft, "I see."

Mikado smiled at him, and it would be a lie if the teen said that his heart didn't do a triple flip at the sight. But accompanied with the smile was not, "Let's all get in the van and we'll drive around Ikebukuro." No, it was much worse.

"Then you kids all have fun touring Ikebukuro," the informant said.

"Wait, Mikado-san isn't coming along?" Izaya asked, panic suddenly filling his system. Wasn't the deal that Mikado was going to give him a tour?

"Ah, sorry. Something came up, so I won't be able to tag along. But don't worry. Shizuo knows all the hot spots, since we visit them together often. And whatever he doesn't show you, I'm sure Shinra-kun would love to fill in."

Izaya desperately wished that he had told Shinra that he was feeling sick and couldn't make it to the tour. Instead, he forced himself to smile. "Is that so?" On the inside, he was dying to throw his arms up in the air and scream about unfairness. However, he wanted Mikado to think of him as a good boy. That way, he can catch the informant unawares.

"You owe me for this," Shizuo grumbled to Mikado.

Blue eyes crinkled with smile and Izaya found himself blushing alongside the yankee. The informant patted the blonde hair before waving them all goodbye. "Enjoy yourselves! And I'll take care of dinner, if you guys are good!"

Mikado got into the van with Kadota, and the three teenagers watched as the van drove away. Izaya turned to Shinra, who looked bored and would probably suggest that they go to a park to find something to dissect. He then looked at Shizuo, who was glaring at him as if his life depended on it. He sighed mentally.

Somehow, he got the feeling that this was not going to turn out well as Mikado had hoped.

* * *

The tour started off tense. Izaya and Shizuo could not stop glaring at one another, and Shinra didn't either care or noticed. The nerdy boy was going off about dissection and his love for Celty, and frankly Izaya didn't give a damn. He just wanted this to be over as soon as possible so that he could return to his research or, even better, eat the dinner Mikado was going to get him. He wondered if Mikado was going to buy them dinner (preferably not Russian Sushi, Izaya couldn't help but to think) or if he was going to cook.

The teen wondered what homemade meal from the informant would taste like. Probably wonderful. The blue-eyed man had not only the delicate air, but also the build of a fragile housewife. It was highly probable that he cooked... with a frilly apron, maybe.

So lost in his thought was Izaya that he didn't notice Shizuo halting. When the teen bumped into the yankee, the two had another glaring contest.

"Hey Shizuo, why did you stop?" Shinra asked, cutting between the two teen's tension.

Angry brown eyes never left its position as the blonde jerked his head to the side and said, "The crepe here is to die for."

Was it only Izaya or did the yankee put a certain emphasis on the word 'die?'

"Heh, so Shizu-chan likes sweets, does he?" Izaya mocked.

"Shut up!"

Red eyes widen with surprise when, without hesitation, Shizuo grabbed the nearby street sign and threw it towards him. Izaya jumped to the left, but was unprepared for the next sign that Shizuo used as a bat to hit the teen's face. It was no surprise for Izaya to find himself on the ground, eyes shut and groaning in pain. Then suddenly, something blocked all the light in the world, and red eyes forced themselves to open.

And lo and behold, Shizuo was standing over him, a vending machine over his head. Izaya had no idea where he found the vending machine in that short amount of time, but there was a bigger question than that looming over his head. Surely Shizuo wasn't planning to drop that on Izaya's head was he…?

"You knew I was angry but provoked me anyways. That means that you have a death wish, right? That means it's completely okay for me to crush you, right?"

What kind of screwed up logic is that? Izaya gritted his teeth. Die? Here? No way! He had yet to taste Mikado's homemade meal! With that giving him the push he needed, Izaya quickly lifted his legs and rolled between Shizuo's legs before the yankee threw the vending machine where Izaya used to lay.

The red-eyed teen reached into his pocket and pulled out his trusty switch blade. He had been planning on not showing his abilities so early, but this was a special situation. He ran forward and easily sliced the yankee's blue tie. Shizuo backed away, his hands reaching for yet another street sign.

They were about to clash again, when suddenly, thick black hands reached out and grabbed both boys by the back of their uniform. The two turned, both rather pissed at having their fight interrupted, but any angry words they had died in their mouths. For Simon was not only holding them with ease, but was giving them a rather scary look.

"Fighting bad," he told them in his broken Japanese. "When fighting, get bruised. Breaks good sushi! Don't waste sushi."

The two slowly nodded along to the giant of the man, not quite understanding the logic behind it. However, Simon didn't seem to be satisfied with their level of agreeability.

"If you fight, I put you in sushi," Simon said finally, his face darkening as he glared down at the two of them.

"We won't fight!" Shizuo and Izaya shouted in unison.

Finally satisfied with the result, Simon smiled brightly and released the two. "Very good! Stop by Russian Sushi!" with that, the giant walked off.

Shizuo and Izaya glanced at one another. "Truce for now?" Izaya offered.

"Tch! Fine."

It was only then that they noticed that Shinra was waiting for them by a fountain, eating a crepe.

"This crepe really is good," he told Shizuo.

The yankee nodded, looking a little embarrassed. "I know. Mikado buys some for me when I've been good."

Again, Izaya couldn't get the image of an obedient dog out of his mind. However, they were on a temporary truce, because they didn't want to be turned into sushi. So he just wisely kept his mouth shut about anything that could cause a fight. Instead, he decided to do a bit of snooping.

"How long have you known Mikado-san?" he asked.

Shizuo's brown eyes clearly told the teen that he wasn't trusted. However, Shizuo just scratched the back of his neck and answered honestly. "A little more than a year. He's been taking care of me."

"What do you mean?"

Something akin to devilish delight flashed in the yankee's eyes. "It means that I live with him."

Shizuo did not miss the emotions that contorted Izaya's face. Rage. Hate. Jealousy. The blonde grinned. "That's why you need to stay clear of Mikado. Because he's mine."


	4. Bluebird's Guardian

Hello everybody! Thank you very much for all of your kind words. I wasn't sure how this story would be received by the general public; not to mention deannoning is kind of scary.

A quick shout-out to RadioWavesattheSpeedofLight: I've never had any fanarts for my stories before. And if you do end up sketching something (rough sketches are awesome, too!), I would love to see them. No pressure or anything. But thank you for your kind words.

This has been edited from the lj version for whatever reasons.

I don't own.

Warning: AU, OOCness, Yaoi, language, appearance of novel-only characters (Thus far: Aoba. In this chapter: Awakusu-kai, Akane)

Recap: Izaya learns of Shizuo and Mikado's past and relationship with one another.

* * *

Izaya and Shizuo glared into each other's eyes. One's eyes were filled with uncontrollable jealousy, and the other's eyes were filled with mocking jeer. And for once, the red-eyed teen had half a mind to claw out those brown eyes that dared to taunt him. Screw the truce, screw being turned into a sushi! The yankee had no right to say something like that! The yankee had no right!

"Hey," Shinra said suddenly, interrupting their tension again. "Isn't that Kida-san?"

However, his two friends did not stop glaring at one another. Their eyes were locked, both promising each other pain. Neither refused to be the first person to look away, for looking away could only mean one thing: defeat. Brown eyes and red eyes were fighting in their own special way so that nothing could interrupt them…

Until a flash of yellow mauled them both.

"Shizuo!" one Kida Masaomi shouted as he hugged both teens. "Shinra-kun! And… Izaya-kun, right?" He released them and gave Shinra an enthused hug. However, it was here that the Yellow Scarves leader stopped and glanced around. "Ora? Wasn't Mikado supposed to be giving you a tour? Where is he? Bathroom? Or maybe he saw some hot chick and decided to go hit on them without me? Ah, how can he be so cruel? Even after I worked so hard to teach him the best way to flirt-"

"Don't just randomly make things up in your head!" Shizuo snapped at Masaomi, picking up parts of the fountain and throwing it at the older blonde, who easily dodged it.

"Wah! Shizuo! Calm down!" Masaomi waved his hands in front of him as if to declare his innocence. "I get it! I get it! I won't joke about Mikado hitting on hot girls!"

The yankee just scoffed and looked away. Perhaps he was taking deep breaths to calm his anger or something? Izaya really didn't care. His attention returned to the Yellow Scarves leader, who was now dusting himself and making dramatic gestures.

"Why are you here?" Shinra asked, looking curious.

"Well, Mikado said that he was going to be out, giving you guys a tour. So imagine my surprise when I overheard someone talking about how a super strong person was throwing around vending machines! Of course I had to come and make sure that my bestest buddy of all times was safe! … Oh, and to make sure you guys are okay, too."

Something about this man just irked Izaya. Perhaps it was the flippant way he talked. Or perhaps it was the dramatic gestures. Whatever it was, it annoyed the red-eyed teen. However, this man had been introduced to Izaya as the informant's best friend. That meant that he had to treat this carefully and convince this man to release all the details about Mikado.

"But seeing that all of you guys are okay, I figured it wasn't anything too bad," Masaomi continued. "What ticked Shizuo off anyways? And where is Mikado?"

"Mikado went with Kadota-san," Shizuo answered quickly. Izaya knew what the yankee was doing. He was trying to make the rather dense older man forget about the first question by answering this one. And to his credit, it worked.

"With Dota-chin?" Masaomi asked, looking confused. "But that would mean that Mika-" He stopped. There was a flash of something dark that passed through his face. Then suddenly, he was back to his grinning stupid self. "Ah, I guess if Mikado is going to be too busy, then I'll just have to entertain you guys as the tour guide. Now, where would you all like to go?"

Izaya was not fooled. There was something about this man "Kadota" that seemed to mean something rather big. And the red-eyed teen was not about to let this matter drop.

"Is Mikado-san going to be okay?" he asked.

"What do you mean? You're making it sound like Mikado's going to be in mortal danger or something!" Masaomi laughed, but Izaya could hear a soft underlay of bitterness in it. "Besides…" Here, the man's eyes narrowed, and the teen's mind rang with alarm of danger. "What business is it of yours to know?"

"Mikado-san that he would make us dinner," Izaya answer quickly. Like he was going to tell this guy the real reason! "So I just wanted to make sure that he's going to be okay."

The blank look of Masaomi did not pass, which made the teen a little uneasy. Could it be that the gang leader was sharper than he appeared? Then just as soon as that question made its way in Izaya's mind, Masaomi broke into a big grin, signaling that that question was unfounded and that this man really was a simple idiot.

"Aw, that's so cute! Shizuo, looks like you have a rival here!"

The yankee bristled and glared down Masaomi. However, he did not grab the nearest object and throw it around like before. Could it be he was trying to keep hold to the truce that they made? Interesting…

"Well, you guys don't have to worry," Masaomi said finally as he motioned for them to follow him. "The only time Mikado asks for Dota-chin is when he's dealing with the Awakusu-kai. And Dota-chin and his friends are probably the most reliable people to guard Mikado when it comes to them!"

The yakuza? Well, Izaya supposed that this made sense. After all, Mikado was an informant, and who needed or had information on the darker side of life like the yakuza? He tried to calm himself with this logic, and would have succeeded if not for the loud exclamation of anger from Shizuo.

"What the hell? They shot him the last time!" he shouted. "He could be in trouble-"

"Hey Shizuo?" Masaomi said with a sweet smile. "Shut the fuck up."

* * *

No one dared to speak as they followed the Yellow Scarves Leader through the twists and turns of Ikebukuro.

Masaomi called it "The Best Pick-Up Places" of Ikebukuro. The other three didn't dare talk or contradict him. Unfazed by the silence of his charges, the Yellow Scarves Leader jocularly went on, making histrionic gestures at special sights that were "the prime spots to hit on girls." It was almost automatic, the things that he pointed out, the grin on his face, and Izaya couldn't help but to think that maybe once upon a time, this person in front of them gave the exact same tour to others.

He wondered if Mikado was the one at the receiving end of this tour.

"And thus we come to the ultimate place to find girls…" Masaomi declared. And with a dramatic flourish, he pointed at the park. "Let's all go and hit on girls!"

"… Aren't you dating Mikajima-san?" Izaya asked. It wasn't that he was against hitting on girls (he's done things like that before when he wanted to get information from people). It just seemed like such an annoying thing to do at a time like this, especially when he could be using this time to find out more information on Mikado.

"Of course! But she doesn't mind me fooling around like this," the Yellow Scarves leader said. "That's why I love her the best!"

"Tch!" Shizuo grumbled. "Do you even know how to stay loyal?" He then took off by himself towards the park… towards the ice cream vendor.

"Ah, I guess Shizuo is hungry," Shinra mumbled. He then raised his voice and yelled at the yankee. "Don't blame me if you eat too much and ruin your appetite!"

"Now then! The two of you-"

"I'll pass," Shinra said, stretching. "I have a beautiful lady waiting for me at home, you know. And if she's not allowed to go around hitting on people, then I'm not allowed either!"

Then the nerdy boy went off, chasing a butterfly or something, leaving Izaya at the mercy of the Yellow Scarves leader.

At times like these, there really was only one thing to do, right?

"I'm… er… I'm really tired. So I'll go over there and rest on that bench, and you can have fun, ok?"

"Before that, I need to talk to you, Izaya-kun." Masaomi's eyes were back to the blank look, and Izaya's brain didn't waste any time telling him that this was dangerous and he needed to get away from there.

"Look, I don't really know why a guy like you is living with Shinra's folks, nor do I really want to know. But since you're our neighbor and all that…"

Izaya could not hold back a look of surprise at those words. Neighbor? But the only neighbor that Shinra mentioned was… Mikado… and subsequently the yankee, who claimed to live with the informant. Then what did Masaomi mean by this? Could it be that Masaomi also lived with Mikado as well?

"I figured I might as well as get this out before… unfortunate things happen. First of all, don't anger Shizuo. Don't bait him, don't taunt him, and above all else, don't pick a fight with him."

The red eyed teen mentally rolled his eyes at the advice. He knew how dangerous the yankee could be. After all, the brute threw a vending machine at him.

"Second, stay clear of Mikado. That means stop asking questions about him, understand? He's not someone a short kid like you can grasp."

Izaya forced himself to not respond. Was Kida Masaomi an idiot? He was the one that gave all the information Izaya wanted. Why was he telling the teen now to stay away from Mikado? And what was up with this quip about Izaya being short? Sure, he stood a little shorter than Shizuo, but that yankee was definitely taller than an average person! Besides, Mikado was only taller than Izaya by four inches! It didn't mean the teen was small!

"And thirdly-"

Before whatever the Yellow Scarves leader wanted to say was out of his mouth, loud screams interrupted them. They both turned towards the ice cream vendor, just in time to see Heiwajima Shizuo knock out a 10-year old girl with a swing of his hand, which in turn caused even more screams.

The two looked at each other and then at the scene. As if coming to the sudden realization that they needed to figure out what happened, they both ran towards Shizuo.

* * *

"Did I… kill her?" Shizuo asked softly as Masaomi checked the girl's vitals.

"Thankfully no," the Yellow Scarves leader said with a sigh. "But what prompted you to attack this kid?"

"She just shocked me with that over there," Shizuo said pointing at an object on the ground.

Izaya blinked. "That's a taser gun…" He couldn't help but to look at the yankee with new-found horror. How the hell was that guy completely unaffected by a taser gun, of all things? First he was super strong, and now he was indestructible as well? Where was the fairness in that?

"Well this could be bad," Shinra said approaching them. "Lots of people just witnessed Shizuo slapping the girl."

"I didn't slap her!"

"You could be sued for this. Hurting little children is a criminal offense, you know."

"I… I didn't mean to!" Shizuo's face flushed with both embarrassment and shame. Izaya could guess what was going through his mind, which probably went something along the lines of "What would Mikado think?" The yankee could be such a predictable puppy at times.

"But the fact remains that you knocked her out," Shinra continued.

Masaomi let out a loud sigh, catching all three's attention. "Alright, alright. That's enough. C'mon, we'll ask Shingen-san to help us out or something."

Right. Shingen was some sort of a doctor… or something. Surprisingly, the Yellow Scarves leader wasn't that much of an idiot.

The three teenagers helped Masaomi conceal the girl as they hurried back to Shinra's place.

* * *

Shingen responded to the phone call from Shinra with relative quickness that Izaya hadn't expected. He was over at the apartment, waiting for them by the time that they arrived. With quick words, Masaomi explained the situation. The doctor-not-doctor let out a sigh through his gas mask and proceeded to check over the girl.

"Well, you're lucky, Shizuo-kun," he said. "There was no real harm to her except for the fact that she was knocked out."

The yankee breathed out a sigh of relief. If there was anyone who was still tense, however, it was Shinra, who was giving his father suspicious glances.

"Dad," Shinra said. "Why aren't you heading back to work?"

Shingen shrugged. "Maybe I wanted to spend some time with my son!"

"Lies. Why are you here really? You've never responded to my phone calls this quickly before. Did something happen to-"

The door slammed open. Every conscious person turned his eyes towards the noise. There, a bandana-less Kadota stood, clutching to someone who was wearing a black fur jacket. Behind him, Karisawa and Yumasaki were supported by a man Izaya hadn't seen before. But seeing that it was this group, he figured this man was Togusa, the driver who had just lazily waved his hand. The man had short brown hair and thinly veiled annoyance shining in his eyes. He wore a white shirt with a brown vest over, both now stained with what looked like blood. He wore dirty blue jeans, but that wasn't saying much, seeing that the rest of them all looked worse for wear, almost as if they went tumbling in the mud.

And that worried Izaya. If the Awakusu-kai didn't hesitate to shoot Mikado the last time they met, who could say what else they would do to the informant? The teen couldn't help but to think of this as stupid a little. Why would an informant willingly go talk to someone who obviously wished him ill? Or even better, why would an informant willingly piss the yakuza off?

"Mikado!" There was a chorus of voices that shouted the name.

Shizuo tried to make his way over to them, but Kadota was already moving, putting the informant down on an empty couch. Shingen rushed forward and began to strip the informant, trying to figure out what's wrong.

"Please look at his leg," Kadota added. "I've managed to stop the blood, but…"

Shingen took out scissors and cut off parts of Mikado's pants to better look at the informant's leg. Someone had tied a bandana around it, stopping the blood. When Shingen untied it, it revealed a nasty cut. Izaya frowned. Could it have been a sword wound? It was possible; after all, this was the yakuza they were dealing with.

"What happened?" Masaomi demanded, glaring at Kadota. The other three sat themselves down on a different sofa, watching this scene with interest. Shinra administrated basic first-aid for them. Shizuo stood by Mikado's couch, trying not to get in the way, but worry bringing him close. And Izaya also stared at Kadota and Masaomi, hungry for more information.

"Negotiations went well for the most part," Kadota said, stretching a little. "But then things got a little… personal."

* * *

"_Nice to see you again, Shiki-san," Mikado said with a polite bow. "Well then, should we sit?"_

_They were currently at Mikado's office in Shinjuku. Mikado was flanked by Kadota and Togusa on either side, which was mirrored by Shiki, the communicator between the informant and the Awakusu-kai, who was flanked by two of his underlings. Karisawa and Yumasaki were near Mikado's desk, giggling and reading a manga together._

_Mikado and Shiki sat, the rest standing by their boss in their formation. Shiki looked a little agitated, which was rare for the yakuza member. Mikado, however, was calm as always. Kadota wondered if Mikado had an idea why Shiki was so nervous.  
_

_Anri approached the two of them with a tray of hot tea. She placed the tray down on the table and gave each of them the tea cup. Once she was done with that, she stood up and stood near a bookcase, her red eyes boring holes into Shiki. Ignoring the hostile glares, Shiki calmly raised the tea cup and sipped it, holding his agitation in check._

"_The Awakusu-kai doesn't want to be caught in your games, Informant-san," Shiki said finally. _

_"I'm certain I've done all I can to leave you out of it." Mikado's voice sounded troubled by what Shiki said.  
_

_The yakuza member shook his head. "Please let me finish. We refuse to get caught in your games, Informant-san, because they are childish. We will pay you for any information we need, and we will ask the Black Bike to also help us when we need to transport goods. However…"_

_The man took a shaky breath. Whatever he was about to say must have shaken him to the core. Kadota didn't remember seeing this man ever this nervous. Exactly what had happened?_

"_However, this is a matter that tied our hands behind our backs. Ryugamine-san, please, help us."_

_Surprise was clear on the non-yakuza members in the room. Kadota wondered what kind of face Mikado was making. Was he excited? Was this according to a plan? Or was this a surprise that was going to end up aiding Mikado's plans? Or perhaps this was going to destroy it?  
_

_Then Mikado let out a soft chuckle, and Kadota knew that the informant already had a plan prepared. "Of course I'll help, Shiki-san," Mikado said, still chuckling lightly. "After all, Akane-chan's disappearance is a big deal to you, right?"_

_Kadota was surprised to say the least. Akane? Wasn't she the granddaughter of the Awakusu-kai's leader, Awakusu Dougen? She disappeared? And how did Mikado knew about this already?_

_Shiki gritted his teeth, and Kadota noted that his whole body had tensed. "Akane-ojou-chan said she was going to a friend's house. That was over a month ago."_

"_And after exhausting all of your searches, you decided to come to me, is that it?" Mikado asked, amusement shining in his voice. _

_This was one of the things that Kadota hated about the informant. He had a bad habit of provoking dangerous people, especially one like Shiki. One would think that Mikado would learn after being shot the last time…_

"_On the contrary, we know exactly where she is."_

"_Ora? Then what seems to be the problem?"_

"… _She is with the Yagiris."_

"_Ah… So that's why. Since the Awakusu-kai supports the Yagiri and vice versa, accusing them of having your precious Akane-chan would cause a rift between the two. So you will send me instead, since it's well known that the Yagiris and I hold no love for one another. I get to destroy the Yagiris, you get to get your Akane-chan and avoid a potential confrontation with them… But no matter which way I look at it, this isn't a fair deal at all."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_So what if I get the Yagiris? That's not a good enough for me."_

_Kadota resisted the urge to raise a brow. Not enough? Even after all the years of turmoil, just struggling to find them, and Mikado was declaring that he didn't need that information? Really, Kadota didn't get the informant at all._

"_Then what do you want?"_

_Mikado looked thoughtful at this question. There was a pause and then… "We'll discuss that once I have Akane-chan in my grasp, ok? Now then, tell me where the Yagiris are."_

* * *

"You went alone?" Masaomi snapped, interrupting the story. "How could you? Why didn't you call me? Or, God forbid, even Aoba?"

"We were just going to check out the perimeter! We weren't going to do anything. We were going to come back, regroup and come up with a plan or something! It wasn't supposed to happen like that! That's why we even left Anri-san behind!" Kadota yelled back, looking equally angry.

He let out a sigh. "It's just… we were given an address to an apartment nearby. So we found no harm in trying to see what was there. When we got near the door…"

"It exploded."

Every eye turned to look at the couch, where the informant had regained conscious. He looked around, surveying everyone. "Luckily, we got out mostly unscathed. Anyone or anything that was in the apartment was probably destroyed by it. I was just unlucky to trip and fall, hitting my head and apparently getting staked by something sharp."

"It was a piece of glass," Karisawa supplied.

"And let me tell you, it wasn't fun to take it out," Yumasaki added.

"Not to mention the scratches on my van," Togusa added, looking depressed.

Mikado buried his face in his hands, letting out a soft groan. "Damn it. I was so close. And now Awakusu-kai is going to actually kill me this time."

Shizuo reached out and held Mikado's hand, as if to give the informant strength through the touch. Izaya wasn't jealous at all. Jealousy wasn't the reason why he turned around and left the room. Jealousy wasn't why he walked into his room and leaned against the wall, smacking his head lightly against it. It wasn't jealousy that coursed through his vein. Well, Izaya was always good at lying to himself.

Then the door opened and Togusa looked in at him, not bothering to walk all the way in.

"Look kid," he said. "I don't know why you're here nor do I want to know. But things are going to get a little crazy from now on. The more you try to hang out with Mikado, the deeper in shit you're going to fall. Do you understand? For your safety, stay away from Mikado."

Izaya glared at him, "What's it to you?"

"It really isn't any of my business," Togusa said with a shrug. "But Kadota-san told me to give you that warning. He's the type that doesn't like to see innocent people get involved, you know? And it was a pain in the butt trying to convince him that it wasn't his fault that this whole stupid conflict became overblown like this."

The man's sharp eyes met Izaya's red. "So for your safety and my sanity, stay away from Mikado. Got it?"


	5. Bluebird's Puzzle

Thank you everyone for your wonderful reviews and favorites! I'm always uplifted by even the smallest encouragement, which helped create this chapter. Although I must admit that this chapter is a little boring in that there is a lack of action, but it's nonetheless rather important due to the background information. Please enjoy this despite that! This has been edited from the lj version for whatever reasons.

A quick shout-out to RadioWavesattheSpeedofLight: You, my kind friend, are amazing. I was completely blown away by the beauty of your artwork. Thank you so much for that amazing first page! I'm looking forward to the next ones! Do you mind if I were to post the links on my profile page?

I don't own.

Warning: AU, OOCness, Yaoi, language, appearance of novel-only characters (Thus far: Aoba, Awakusu-kai, Akane)

Recap: Mikado returns from the meeting with the yakuza group Awakusu-kai with nothing but injuries and sad news.

* * *

Izaya peeked out of his room, wondering what everyone was doing.

Shingen wasn't in the living room, which probably meant that he went back to work, or was taking care of that girl who attacked Shizuo, because she was also nowhere to be seen. She was probably taken to Celty's room, since the apartment only had two rooms: one for Celty, one for Shinra and Izaya to share. Shingen usually spent the night at his work or on one of the many living room couches, depending on his mood that night.

Masaomi was in a corner, playing with his yellow scarf and staring at his cell phone. Who knew what he was thinking? Shinra worked on his homework on the coffee table. Kadota and his group of people were all talking about something. Rather, it was more correct to say that Karisawa and Yumasaki were arguing with Togusa staring off in space and Kadota trying to calm them down. And Mikado…

Mikado was sitting on the couch that faced Izaya's room. He was reading a book with a soft smile on his face. If that had been all, Izaya would have been fine. If only that had been all…

Heiwajima Shizuo was sitting on Mikado's lap, holding the book up for Mikado. The informant was gently stroking Shizuo's hair with one of his hand, and the other one occasionally reached out and flipped the page. Shizuo was reading the book for him in soft hushed tone, and Mikado chuckled gently from time to time.

Izaya couldn't hear the whispers, and he didn't want to. He closed the door, his every nerve screaming with pain that he had never felt before. What was this burning in his heart? What was this fire that ran through his veins? Why did his eyes threaten to moisture, as if he was going to cry? Just what was going on?

Information. He needed more information.

Red eyes glared dangerously around the room. The room was pretty bare to begin with (Shinra spent more time in Celty's room than his own), and he hadn't brought anything except for few clothes and school supplies in his duffel bag. There were two futons to the side and two desks on the opposite side. Upon the desks were laptops, one owned by Shinra, the other donated by Celty for Izaya's personal use.

There was no hesitation as he rushed forward to his laptop and flipped it open. He hadn't turned it off from using it last night, and the screen flickered on to his web browser he had been using.

Without hesitation, he typed [Yagiri Pharmacy] in the search bar.

The first few pages were dedicated to things that he already knew. The explosion of the Yagiri Pharmacy seven years ago, which was caused by Izumi Ran, the Leader of Blue Squares at the time. The medical research that the pharmacy did, which included trying to find a cure for the common cold. They never succeeded, due to the explosion. The head of the Yagiri Pharmacy at the time: Yagiri Namie, a fair woman of early 20's with a cold look that could rival an ice sculpture. Her uncle was the actual head, but she was taking care of business while he went on a trip to the Americas. None of the Yagiris were heard from again after the explosion.

Pooling from what he knew, it was easy to conclude a few facts. After the explosion, the Yagiris hid underground, most likely with the help of the Awakusu-kai, who must have been help funding the pharmacy. But for whatever reasons, the Yagiris had decided to betray the yakuza group by kidnapping Akane. Why was a question that the internet probably wouldn't be able to provide. This also brought up the question of exactly why the explosion happened. What motivation did the Leader of Blue Sqaures have in doing something like that?

Then his search found him something that he didn't expect. It was a gossip forum, filled with more rumors than actual facts. Thinking he had nothing to lose, he clicked on it. There were many topics listed and he skimmed them until he found something that caught his eyes.

[Human Test Subjects.]

Izaya blinked. Then he giggled. Really? They thought that the Yagiri Pharmacy tested on humans? Pff! Right, because they could so get away with something like that. He skipped it and went to the next one.

[True cause of explosion.]

That was even more hilarious. Because really, now we were going to get into conspiracy theories? These people just didn't seem to understand that posting these things made them look silly. Well, he supposed there was nothing to lose about looking into this. He clicked on the link, which took him to the discussion.

[There's no way that Izumi Ran would have exploded Yagiri Pharmacy. He was one of Yagiri-san's minions! The media is covering something up. There must have been something else that caused it! That's why I'm saying that it wasn't Izumi-san! It was Ryugamine Mikado!]

Izaya froze at those words. This couldn't be right. There was no way… But at the same time, it answered one of the questions. It answered why Mikado was searching for Yagiris. However, it made no sense as to why Mikado was involved with them, especially since Mikado would have been around Izaya's age or slightly older when the whole explosion event happened. Why would someone so young be involved at all with the pharmacy or its head?

[Are you crazy? You're blaming this on the informant? Wasn't he like a sophomore in high school or something when that went down? At the very least, blame it on Kuronuma Aoba! He's the one that took over the Blue Squares once Izumi-san was gone!]

Yes, that made much more sense. That Aoba kid destroyed Yagiri Pharmacy that apparently Izumi was working for and then put all the blame on his older brother… Right. Because the Yagiri Pharmacy's defense systems were so low that someone who must be younger than Mikado (after all, Aoba always called Mikado "senpai") could break in.

None of these made any sense and all of them were idiotic. With a soft sigh, Izaya clicked the back button. Figuring that the past really didn't have that much to do with him right now, the teen searched the web for something more recent.

[Awakusu-kai] he typed on the screen.

This search resulted in pages and pages of news articles that mentioned the yakuza in some way or form. It was pretty much completely useless. Izaya smacked his head lightly against his fist in frustration. What else could he potentially look up? He had already tried looking up [Ryugamine Mikado] the other day and the search returned practically nothing he didn't already know.

Izaya already knew that Mikado had an office in Shinjuku (that's what his business card stated anyways). Izaya already knew Mikado's contact information. Izaya knew that the informant visited Ikebukuro a lot (actually, he might be one of the few who knew that Mikado lived next door to Shinra and now Izaya himself). Aside from these, there existed no other 'new' information. Almost as if the informant either changed his name (after all, who named their kid something cool like "Dragon Peak Emperor?") or didn't have a past.

Izaya wasn't sure which theory he liked more.

He stared at the screen. He supposed he could finish all of his homework now, but that would require him to actually not think about Mikado, which was impossible at this moment in time. That meant that if he really wanted to figure things out, he had to talk to the people outside who all apparently wanted him to stay far away from Mikado.

Jeesh, what was up with that anyways? Why did people find it necessary to all gang up on him to tell him to stay away from the informant? And they never came up with good reasons why either! They always just vaguely mentioned things that sounds cool and then told Izaya that he couldn't have the shiny new toy.

He was muttering darkly under his breath when someone knocked on the door.

"Yes?"

He might have sounded a little bitter or annoyed, because the door opened a little and Mikado peeked in with an apologetic smile. "Ah, sorry for interrupting you," he said bashfully. "But I wanted to tell you that dinner is ready."

This was his chance! He could ask the informant everything now and there and-

"Mikado-san?"

"Hm?"

"If I were to ask you about your past, what would you say?"

Mikado chuckled gently at that. And something about that sight soothed Izaya's heart. Then the informant looked at him with those too blue of eyes and said, "I would say… 'It's a secret.'"

* * *

Since when did these many people could fit in Shingen's apartment? Better yet, when did they all show up to this place? Izaya certainly did not expect this at all.

In one corner, Saki and Masaomi were sharing a meal, each taking turns to spoon feed Anri, who was protesting with her one arm. Erika and Walker were both making wild gestures as they ate their rice. By their side were Togusa, who was flipping through a magazine, and Kadota, who was 'conversing' with Celty, who was alternating from talking to Kadota on her phone and paying attention to make sure that Shinra was actually eating his food.

Shizuo was sitting next to Shinra, looking peeved at the nerdy boy's tactics to earn his crush's attention. Instead of snapping, however, the yankee fueled his anger into eating his food with fervor. Shingen, oddly enough, still had his gas mask on, but was somehow eating the rice. How was a question that Izaya didn't bother trying to find the answer to. Aoba was eating alone until he noticed Izaya's appearance. With a big grin, he waved and shouted, "Mikado-senpai! Come sit with me!"

Ah, of course. Why would Aoba ever wave at the red-eyed teen?

"Alright, Aoba-kun," Mikado said. He gently pushed Izaya towards the other teens. "Please enjoy the dinner. Anri worked hard to make it for all of us."

Anri? Hadn't Mikado said that he would make the food for them? Izaya felt slightly cheated by that. But he obliged. It wasn't like he was going to get any information out of the informant. Instead, he should take this time to get the information he wanted by talking to everyone gathered here.

* * *

"What? Why the hell would I tell you about Mikado and me?" Shizuo exclaimed as soon as he heard Izaya's question.

"I wasn't talking to you…"

"You keep talking, knowing very well that I hate your guts. That means that you want to – mmff!"

Shizuo was shut up by Mikado, who had taken that opportunity to put a lollipop in the yankee's mouth. The blonde turned to look at the informant with a… pouty look? Izaya felt like he was going to be sick.

"Shizuo, let's not destroy things at Shingen's place," Mikado said cheerfully. Then those blue eyes locked on to Izaya, amusement dancing in them. "Please stop baiting him. I'd rather not pay for any more damage."

Izaya just laughed, trying to push aside the hurt that he felt when Mikado so casually returned to Shizuo, almost as if the two were the only people in the room. Shinra somehow seemed to have gotten into a discussion with Aoba, which meant that Celty was free. The red-eyed teen turned to face his next targets: Kadota and Celty.

* * *

"You're ignoring my warning then?" Kadota asked as soon as Izaya's question left his mouth.

The teen grinned. "Yup!"

Kadota sighed and rubbed his temple, muttering darkly about dead bodies and expectations. Celty seemed to be looking at the two of them, but Izaya was never too sure what she was thinking. Then she lifted her phone towards him.

[What warning?]

"Ah, Kadota-san said something about staying away from Mikado-san. I figured I don't want to!" Izaya grinned. If he could convince her, she would most likely tell him most of the things that he wanted to know… assuming that she knew them.

Celty hesitated for a bit and then typed: [It's a sound advice, Izaya-kun. You'll end up hurt.]

The teen shrugged. "So?"

"Ugh!" Kadota grunted as he threw his hands up in the air. "Fine. I get it, I get it! Damn, you guys are really alike. Alright. I'll tell you what you want to know on one condition. There are few things that Mikado doesn't want people to know about. I can't tell you those, but I'll do my best to answer the questions. So what do you want to know?"

[Is that wise?] Celty typed on her phone for Kadota. Izaya didn't miss the words, however.

The bandana-wearing man just let out an annoyed huffy breath. "It's his choice."

This exchange did not escape Izaya, but he was distracted by something else. They were going to answer his questions! Excitement pumped in his system as Izaya quickly came up with several things to ask. Then he asked the one that was least likely to cause any controversy.

"So what do you guys do for him?"

[For Mikado-kun?] Celty wrote on her cell. [He calls me whenever he needs something transported to places.]

So Celty does have a job, Izaya couldn't help but to think, with Mikado, to boot! It made a lot of sense: an informant and a transporter. It's so sensible that Izaya can't help but to feel a little jealous of it. He quickly pushed that thought away when Kadota opened his mouth to answer.

"For the main part, I play the 'bodyguard' role whenever he goes in to deal with the Awakusu-kai. Other than that…" The man blushed suddenly. "Ah, no. It's nothing."

Izaya mentally pouted. Why? What could be so embarrassing for the thuggish looking man to blush like that? He decided that he would pounce on the bandana-wearing man a little later. He had a bigger fish to fry.

"What about everyone else?"

[Anri-chan is Mikado's secretary.] Celty wrote. [She's been helping him out ever since he became an informant.]

Izaya's eyes found the one-armed lady, who was now being sandwiched by Masaomi and Saki. She looked rather uncomfortable, and was looking around wildly for anyone who would help her. Instead of help, however, Erika and Walker began to exclaim about some sort of anime or manga or whatever, and took pictures of the event.

"Karisawa, Yumasaki, and Togusa just tag along with me for fun. They're good people, and they really don't have to be involved in this, but…" The troubled look returned on Kadota's face.

The red-eyed teen quickly classified Kadota as the brotherly type who couldn't handle others in trouble. That could come in handy later, especially if Izaya needed help. Then again, this exact character trait of Kadota might hinder him one day. Izaya wondered whether or not if he wanted this man on his side.

[Masaomi-kun is Mikado-kun's friend, so I don't think they do anything for the other outside of friendly interactions. With Saki-chan, she's similar to Karisawa, Yumasaki and Togusa. She's involved through Masaomi-kun.]

"You probably know what Shingen-san does," Kadota added. "I think Shinra's practicing to be like his dad."

This was old news, but Izaya just nodded along. He allowed the two to talk, which gave him the time he needed to absorb the information.

"And then we have Aoba-kun…" Kadota made a face at the name. "Ah, he would probably die if Mikado asked him to. I don't really know what he does, actually. I always thought that he just stood around and hugged Mikado whenever he could. No real job or anything, you know?"

When the teen turned to Celty, she also shrugged in a way that seemed to say, "No clue either."

Izaya tapped his chin. "Interesting," he mumbled to himself. Then he moved onto the more burning questions.

"What is the relationship between Mikado-san and the Yagiris?"

"Sorry. That's classified."

The teen pouted. Of course this one was classified. He was about to ask his next question when a loud scream came from Celty's room. Everyone froze. Then Shingen ran over, Celty and Shinra quick on his heels.

"What was that? Better question, who was that?" someone asked.

"Ah, Shizuo knocked out some random girl," Masaomi said flippantly. "Something about her tasering him or what not."

Mikado's blue eyes darkened. "Taesered…?" he whispered. He turned to look at Shizuo, who looked away from him, guilt obvious on the yankee's face. The informant placed his hand on the blonde's cheek. "Are you okay?"

"Ye… Yeah. Just fine," Shizuo mumbled, blushing.

Izaya clenched his fists and looked away from the two. The others had looks of either concern or curiosity, most likely wondering exactly what had happened and what's going on.

Then the door to Celty's room was opened, and Shingen came out, dragging along an unwilling 10-year old, with Celty and Shinra trailing behind. Everyone in the room seemed to hold their breath as the child screamed and kicked, yelling something about kidnappers and assassins.

"Akane-chan…?"

Izaya did not miss the soft whisper from Mikado's mouth. The teen glanced sharply at the informant, not missing the paleness, the fear. His eyes followed as blue eyes darted from the small girl to Shizuo to Kadota and finally to Anri. And just as Mikado was surely figuring it out in his mind, Izaya began to piece the puzzle together…

If only he had all the pieces!

Then the girl's eyes landed on Mikado and she stopped yelling. Fear shone from her eyes and she wasted no time to hide behind Celty's legs, completely unfazed by her headlessness. Celty tried to calm her down, but the girl wouldn't listen. She shook her head, her eyes never leaving Mikado's form.

"Monster!" she uttered, her voice barely above a whisper. But the sudden silence in the room caused by the scream from earlier made the girl's voice sound as loud as a gunshot. "Stay away from him! He's a terrible monster! He'll kill us all!"


	6. Bluebird's Plan

Hello everybody! Thanks for being patient. I have posted a link to RadioWavesattheSpeedofLight's artwork on my profile. Everyone's with me on that that's an amazing first page, right? Well, please enjoy both this chapter and the beautiful artwork! This has been edited from the lj version for whatever reasons.

Quick shoutout to RadioWavesattheSpeedofLight: I'm not sure why, but I can't seem to get access to your album. Is it supposed to be like that and am I being a noob?

I don't own.

Warning: AU, OOCness, Yaoi, language, appearance of novel-only characters (Thus far: Aoba, Awakusu-kai, and Akane. Will be appearing: Awakusu Mikiya)

Recap: Izaya is beginning to solve the mystery that is Mikado, and Akane seems to be a key to solving him.

* * *

The girl was still screaming bloody murder when Izaya went up to her. She paused her screaming only when Izaya's face was right by her's, confusion bright in her eyes. The teen wondered if she was confused because she didn't know who he was or if it was at the odd fact that he was willing to go near a kid throwing a tantrum.

"Hey there!" Izaya grinned at her, which only caused her to look at him with even more confusion in her eyes. "My name is Orihara Izaya. Call me Iza-nii, okay?"

The girl just stared at him, frozen in both confusion and fear. "Whua… What do you want?"

"I just want you to stop screaming! It's rather rude, you know? We live in an apartment, and it's unadvisable to scream. It'll disturb the neighbors after all!"

"Ah… I'm… sorry?" She tilted her head to the side, almost like a small confused puppy. In this case, the teen supposed the imagery worked well.

Still smiling, Izaya drew the girl out from behind Celty. He led her easily towards the food. "I bet you're hungry! Why don't you have some dinner first?"

"Uh… okay?" the girl looked around, still obviously confused. She noted that everyone all around her looked equally as confused. But Izaya kept smiling, which might have either frightened her into following along or calmed her long enough to realize that her tummy was rumbling. Figuring that it had more to do with hunger than fear, she picked up a random pair of chopsticks and began to eat from the dish in front of her.

"Wow, Izaya-kun is surprisingly good with children," Masaomi said, looking at the two with amusement. "If we ever get a child, Saki, we could probably get him to babysit!"

"Of course I'm good with children! I have two adoooorable little sisters!" Izaya said in a sing-song voice. "And if you do hire me, I'll make sure to charge you double!"

In actuality, he hated his sisters. Despite having about ten-years of age gap, the little buggers seemed to have deemed him unworthy of life, and did their best to "take him down" whenever they could. This included wrestling moves, martial arts moves, and whatever else inspired them to attack Izaya when they thought his guard was down. Of course, that wasn't mentioning the mental torture that they like to inflict on others, especially Izaya.

Compared to the twins, this little girl was an angel.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw Mikado and Kadota making their way for a private talk. He desperately wished he could run over there to listen in on it, but that would be unwise. Currently, everyone else's attention was on him and the little girl, who was now enthusiastically eating. If he were to go towards Mikado, the talk wouldn't be so private any more. As much as it frustrated him, he would have to come up with a new way to get information.

"So what's your name?" Izaya asked the girl as she shoveled rice into her mouth.

She chewed quickly and swallowed. "I'm Awakusu Akane," she said.

And that was the final hammer stroke on the coffin nail.

* * *

Izaya wasn't too sure how it came to this. Somehow, everyone had rearranged themselves around the girl, dinner long forgotten. Izaya was sitting to the girl's left, on her right was Celty. Mikado was sitting across from Izaya with Masaomi and Anri flanking his sides. Aoba and Kadota stood right behind them, as if to keep an eye on things in case something went wrong. Shingen was working with Saki to clean up the mess, complaining about how business shouldn't take precedent over dinner. Everyone else was around them, all tense, waiting.

"You're not what they told me you were like," Akane said finally, staring at Mikado with a frown. "Neither are you," she added, this time to Shizuo, who tenses as soon as her eyes land on him.

"What did they tell you?" Shizuo asked. Izaya was impressed by the yankee's unexpected control of his temper. But that didn't mean that Izaya respected him or anything. No way. Shizuo was an enemy in Izaya's books. Someone he would enjoy ripping apart and breaking.

"That you are an assassin," she said, pointing at Shizuo. Izaya did his best not to snort. "And that you," she pointed at Mikado, fear evident in her face as she gulped slowly. "You are a monster. They said you were making plans. Evil ones. You are gathering an army. You have a weapon beyond imagining. You're going to destroy the world. My family."

"Do you even know what your family actually does? What they've done?" Aoba asked, his eyes narrowed and focused on the girl. Was it only Izaya or did the Blue Squares Leader suddenly seem hostile? Maybe it had to do with what she had said? Izaya filed it away for further examination later. He also filed away the interesting bits of information that Akane dropped that no one else seemed to be questioning.

Akane looked down at her lap. Izaya could see her tremble as she began to stutter a little. Based on that reaction, the teen concluded that she knew that her family was a yakuza family, or at least knew enough about the family business to fear.

"Isn't there a more important question we should be asking?" Masaomi interrupted. "Who told you all of these?"

"I actually thought that was the most obvious part," Mikado said.

Izaya couldn't help but agree. "Because of what Shiki-san said, right?" he asked.

The surprise and wonder on Mikado's face were like a pleasant breeze in the warm spring air. Izaya couldn't help but to puff out his chest a little at the sight of intrigued blue eyes watching him as a cat would before pouncing on its prey. Of course, in this case, the teen wasn't going to just allow the cat to pounce him. He was going to fight, at the very least. But for now, he had the informant's attention, and that was all that mattered.

"Okay, someone explain to me," Masaomi said, looking a little irritated by the secret looks that Izaya and Mikado seemed to be exchanging.

"If you would, Izaya-kun?"

The teen needed no further probing. He nodded to the informant's request and began to explain what he believed to be rather obvious.

"There's no way the Awakusu-kai can afford to lie. Think of it this way, the Awakusu-kai is one of the best yakuza around, and according to you guys, they're also best friends with the Yagiris. Would they really make a mistake and say that the Yagiris had Akane if they haven't already verified the data? After all, not doing so would cause a potential war. Even if it's to bring Mikado-san into the picture, they can't risk their alliance with the Yagiris. It's just simple math using the data that Kadota-san offered."

Masaomi, Aoba, and Shizuo openly glared at him. Kadota looked at him wearily. Anri had her poker face, so Izaya wasn't too sure if she wanted to kill him or if she was impressed. The rest were looking at him in a cross between amazement and concern. This in turn made the teen a little uncomfortable. Was that the wrong thing to say?

But a quick glance across from him assured him, no, this was the perfect thing to say. Because Mikado was giving him a fond smile, almost as if he was proud of what the teen had said. And if that didn't get Izaya's heart racing, he didn't know what would.

"Fuck! I hate this!"

Izaya didn't expect the sudden shout. He looked up in time to see Aoba storm out of the room, not bothering to look back or explain why he had just exploded on them. However, the teen did not miss the hateful glance that the Blue Squares Leader directed at him before hightailing out of Shinra's apartment. Tense silence followed after the abrupt shout, until finally, Masaomi (with that rather dopey grin of his) shrugged, a dramatic sigh leaving his mouth.

"As much as I hate to say this, Aoba there had a point." His eyes met Mikado's with fierce determination, something glinting there that was much more serious than his terrible acting showed. "I disapprove."

"He is rather young," Anri agreed, her eyes never straying far from Izaya's general direction. The teen pretended that she wasn't looking at him as one would look to appraise a piece of meat.

Izaya looked at the trio, his mind already racing, trying to find out exactly what they could be possibly talking about. There were a few thoughts in his mind as to what it could possibly be, but the teen forced his hopes down. It really couldn't be what he was thinking. There was no way that Ryugamine Mikado, of all people, was considering to-

"Is Izaya-kun's guess correct, Akane-chan?" Mikado asked, interrupting Izaya's thoughts.

The girl nodded, fear still clear in her eyes. She then looked at Izaya in that curious kind of way that little kids did. The teen noted that he did not get the fear-filled eyes. Rather, she was looking at him as if he was a new species of bug. It ticked him off a little more than it should have.

"Namie-nee said things about the people here."

That explained why she didn't freak out about Celty's lack of head. In fact, it explained a lot about the girl in general. Namie-nee? That probably meant Yagiri Namie. So Izaya's conclusion had been correct; the girl had been under the Yagiri influence. The teen did a mental jig. Now the question became why the explosion and how she got away. Actually, it was all possible that realizing that the Awakusu-kai knew that Yagiris had Akane, the Yagiris let her go and then set up the bomb. Well, whatever. He'll figure things out.

"But she never said anything about you," the girl continued. "Why are you hanging out with them?"

It was rather cute how she spoke about the rest of the people there as if they weren't there at all.

Izaya just grinned his trademark grin, amused by how calm the girl looked at the sight. "They're fun."

Akane just looked at him with focused eyes. She didn't quite believe him, but the fear in her eyes diminished when she glanced back at Mikado.

* * *

When Mikado pulled Izaya aside to talk privately, the teen pretended that he did not jump for joy. He also ignored the glare from the annoying yankee and the worried glances from Shinra and Kadota. Instead, he just relished in the moment and enjoyed the soft smile on Mikado's face.

"So what up?" The teen tried not to put on his shit-eating grin. He just tried to look politely at the informant, who was looking at him with amusement. The key words here was"tried."

"Izaya-kun, Shinra-kun told me the other day that you were looking for work."

That stupid big mouth. Of course Shinra would tell that to Mikado! But it made the teen pause for a bit. Why would Shinra say that to the informant if he didn't want Izaya to get involved? He mentally shrugged. Oh well. The nerdy boy was in love with a headless woman for Pete's sake! Who knew what actually went on in his head?

"And after your analysis, I'm certain that this is the correct thing to do," Mikado continued. "Would you, by any chance, be interested in working for me?"

Izaya's brain halted. Everything in the room seemed to spin and it took all he had to not jump up and down and scream, "HOLY CRAP, YES!" Instead, he took in a shaky breath and tried to regain his composure.

"I don't know," the teen said, trying really hard not to let the informant see how excited he was at this. "I'm not really good at making teas or answering calls."

Mikado chuckled a little at that, and it would be lying if Izaya said that his heart didn't flutter at the sight. "You won't be doing anything like that. That's Anri-chan's job."

And then Izaya watched fascinated, as the informant's demeanor shifted and instead of the shy, chuckling Mikado, the teen was face-to-face with cold blue eyes that seemed to look completely through him. Just like before, like a predator watching its prey, Mikado moved in closer, until Izaya could smell something that faintly reminded him of lilacs. Lilacs? Why lilacs?

Mikado smiled but it never reached his eyes. It was more like a humorless stretch of his lips with a touch of cruelty to it. "I promise you, your job will be very different."

* * *

By different, Mikado failed to mention babysitting.

Izaya stared at the girl in front of him. School was out for the time being, and Mikado had sent Izaya a text that asked him to take Akane to the park and keep her occupied until the informant got there. Seriously? This was the teen's first job? A babysitter for the informant?

"Don't look so depressed," the girl snapped at him. "I wanted to hang out with Masaomi-nii and Anri-nee! But Mikado-san said that he needed them for work."

The teen just sighed softly. Shinra, who was by his side, laughed. "I guess you get to practice babysitting before Saki-san gets pregnant!"

It wasn't fair or funny. Not one bit. But without a doubt, Izaya knew he was going to do this, because getting a job from the informant was one step closer to finding out more about him. He paused. Why did he want so much information on that guy anyways? It was odd. He had never so seriously researched on one person like this before, not even for a project in school. So why was he so interested in Mikado?

"Here, I'll take you to the park," Shinra offered, effectively shaking his friend out of his thoughts.

Izaya shrugged. It couldn't hurt to have him along, right?

The three did not realize that there was one another person who followed their tail.

* * *

When they got to the park, Mikado waved them over to a bench. In his hands, he had small ice cream treats for Akane and Izaya.

"Ah, sorry Shinra-kun. I didn't think you'd come along," he said as he handed the treats over. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out his money. "Here, why don't you and Shizuo go buy something too?"

Izaya froze. The yankee? What? A quick glance around ensured him that yes, the brute was standing behind him. When the blonde caught the disgusted grimace, he scowled back.

"Mikado told me to keep an eye on you guys. That's all!" he snapped, looking away as if embarrassed.

Disgusting.

But Mikado just chuckled and handed over his money. Once Shinra and Shizuo was out of earshot, he turned back to Akane with a very gentle look.

"You said earlier that you know what your family does," he said. "Would you like to see them in action?"

The girl hesitated at the question. She looked at Izaya, as if asking for permission. The teen just shrugged. But he couldn't shake off a feeling of suspicion. What was the informant planning? Why would he try to scare the little girl like this? But looking at the serene expression on Mikado's face, he couldn't help but to wonder if maybe, just maybe, he had been overestimating the man. Perhaps the predatory glint was something that Izaya had made up in his mind. Perhaps this man was just a normal informant and Izaya was putting too much stock into things. Perhaps this man was just a calm man who wanted to reunite the young child to her family.

"I don't know," the girl admitted.

"Do you want to go back to them?" Mikado continued, concern etched in his face.

Her answer was to shrink into herself, making her look smaller than a 10-year old that she claimed to be. Izaya pretended that it was pity in Mikado's eyes that he saw, because otherwise, what the man was doing would seem too cruel.

"Maybe," Akane said finally. "I don't know."

The informant nodded knowingly. He patted her head, and with a strange glint in his blue eyes that Izaya couldn't seem to place, he said, "Don't worry. You can make up your mind slowly."

He then pulled Izaya aside. "Izaya-kun," Mikado said, the gentleness ebbing away to something grave. "I'm going to need you to hold onto her. There was… a little complication, and I'm starting to get the whole picture. But I need you to keep Akane safe, do you understand?"

Ah, so this was more than a babysitting job. It was also a bodyguard job. Wouldn't the yankee be more suited for this?

Despite his line of thoughts, Izaya nodded. "Alright," he agreed. "What should I do?"

* * *

Ryugamine Mikado sat by himself on the bench, flipping through a book. Izaya positioned himself so that he was hidden from the general view but the view of the informant remained clear. By his side, Akane played with Shinra and Shizuo, all three also concealed by the general view. The only way to see them would be if they were sitting exactly where Mikado was and turned around, because from this angle, all Izaya could see was the black hair of the informant.

The informant suddenly looked up and closed the book. "Thank you so much for coming, Awakusu-san," he said politely.

Izaya ignored the playing children and shifted all of his focus to the conversation.

The man who approached Mikado wasn't the old man that the internet had informed Izaya to be the head of Awakusu-kai. This man had more of an average businessman look than an actual yakuza one. He stood proudly and Izaya quickly calculated this man to be someone ambitious but didn't have the power.

"That's papa," Akane said, pointing at the man.

And suddenly, Shizuo and Shinra were also by Izaya's side, all looking out intensely at the scene in front of them. Izaya pretended not to be ticked by them. After all, something much more interesting was happening in front of him.

"Ryugamine-san," the man answered, looking tense. "What are you up to? If you have any business with the Awakusu-kai, you go to Shiki-san. Why have you called me here?"

"Because I have some good news and some bad news," the informant said without missing a beat. Izaya could see the polite smile in his mind without seeing it. "I have someone that you'll be rather interested in meeting. But the thing is, she's having fun with her friends."

"You found Akane?" The man's voice suddenly changed. There was a hint of shock, almost desperation, and it was all Izaya could do to stamp out the jealousy in his heart. He was certainly not jealous that this little girl had her father's love. No. Of course not. Family was stupid.

"Yes. She's playing in the playground over there."

A lie. Akane wasn't anywhere near the playground. She was with three teenage boys, which sounded a lot worse than it actually was. Izaya frowned. What would Mikado gain from this lie? But the informant seemed to be watching the yakuza man carefully. There was something here that Izaya just wasn't seeing. Some sort of information that he was missing.

What was it?

The man, not realizing the lie, ran towards the playground. Akane stiffened besides the teens, who all watched the scene with tense silence. They watched as the man went up to every kid, looking at all of them carefully. They watched as the man tugged at his hair, looking visibly frustrated. They continued watching when the man, after looking at every single kid there, sighed, seemingly giving up when-

A young girl who looked a lot like Akane walked by. He grabbed her without a second thought and turned her around. But when he realized that it wasn't his daughter, he let her go with sincere apologies. Izaya pretended that he didn't long for the similar kind of love from his parents. He didn't need his parents. Parents were just… annoying. They got in the way and they were never there when you needed them.

The man finally gave up and trudged back to Mikado, his head hung in shame. "My daughter isn't there, Informant-san," he told Mikado wearily.

Izaya watched the black hairs as they shook when Mikado nodded his head slowly. "Yes, you're right. You'll have to forgive me, Awakusu-san, but I just had to make sure."

He then turned around, his brilliant blue eyes making contact with Izaya's red. Without a single word or signal, the teen understood what that meant. He nudged at Akane.

"Why don't we go see your dad?"

The girl didn't hesitate this time. She just ran forward, ignoring everything, and into the arms of her father. Her father knelt down to the ground and hugged her tightly, lovingly. Just as a normal father would do.

The teens all slowly followed after her, choosing to stand near the bench to watch what was happening. Izaya's eyes never strayed too far away from the parent and his child, because there was something just so… pure about the moment and he really didn't know how to react to it. How did it feel? To hug someone you loved so much that you would even send your yakuza to find them? How did it feel? To love someone so unconditionally? What was it like? To have a family member who genuinely cared for you? Because Izaya just didn't get it. Family wasn't like that. Family wasn't about love.

"Well, I suppose that's that," Shinra said.

The father still hadn't let go of the child. He was holding her just as tightly as before, and Izaya would bet five bucks that she was holding just as tightly. Slowly, he tore his eyes away from the sight and towards the informant. And froze.

Mikado was pulling away from a conversation on his cellphone. The teen hadn't even noticed that the informant had been talking to someone else. But what really caught his red eyes wasn't the phone. It was the smile. Mikado was smiling darkly, almost like a cat who had his prey in front of him. Ah, so Izaya hadn't imagined the dark predator image earlier. That just made it that much scarier.

"Why Awakusu-san, you look rather frightened," Mikado said, standing up from the bench. Was it only Izaya who thought the politeness felt fake and even… cloying? "Could it be that something didn't go as you planned?"

The man was frozen and was looking at Mikado like a deer caught in headlights. So there was something here that was wrong. So unconditional family-love really didn't exist. Izaya laughed merrily in his head, because really, what did he expect? Of course he was right. He was usually right about this kind of things. There was no such thing as a family that actually loved each other. Just couldn't exist.

"I… I don't know what-" the man stammered

"That's funny, because I have Kida Masaomi on the phone right now, and he said that he and his group found some snipers stationed all around here. Apparently the snipers all have the order to shoot a certain someone in your arms." As Mikado spoke, he walked forward towards the Awakusu two. He closed his cellphone shut and put it away, his strides never faltering.

Both Shizuo and Shinra were frozen to the spot, and really, if Izaya stopped to think about it, he was frozen too. Had been since Mikado's sudden transformation from polite and gentle to cold and manipulative. Izaya totally agreed with Akane's original viewpoint that Mikado was a monster. Because now, he could actually see it.

"But I'm sure they were just terrible coincidences, am I correct, Awakusu Mikiya?"

And then the gunshot ran out.

Mikado turned around as he slumped over, holding his left side where the bullet had entered. "Shiki-san? Why…?"

And before anything else could happen, Izaya and Shizuo ran. If someone asked him to explain himself later, he would only be able to shrug a little. But at the moment in time, all he could think about was that Mikado was going to be hurt, and his body had moved without his brain commanding it. The two teens ran in-between the informant and this man named Shiki, who was now walking towards them, gun in hand.

"Move aside," Shiki said, still walking towards them. "I have no qualms about killing children."

Then Mikado's hands shot out and wrapped around Izaya and Shizuo protectively. He turned them around, so that the two boys was now cradled in Mikado's hunched form, the informant's back to the gun. Shizuo's uniform began to soak in the blood of the informant. Izaya opened his mouth to protest Mikado's protection of them, but someone interrupted him before he could speak.

"Don't you dare hurt him!"

And little Awakusu Akane ran forward, breaking free from her father's hold and blocking the path of the bullet to Mikado. "Don't hurt Mikado-san!"

Everyone seemed to hold their breaths as they stared at the little girl. Her father tried to plead with her, telling her to get away from the informant, but the brat held. For once, Izaya was rather glad that she was there.

"Namie-nee told me what you guys do. What we as the family does. I thought it was just a lie, and that there was no way that my family can do anything evil. She also said that Mikado-san is nothing but a monster who's trying to destroy my family. And yet ever since I showed up, Mikado-san's been nothing but kind to me! He helped me, fed me, and made sure I wasn't lonely. So how is it that he's the monster when you're the one shooting at him? How is it that he's the evil one if my family's the one hurting and… and killing? If that's the kind of family that I have, then I renounce it! I don't want anything to do with it! From today on, I'll just be Akane."

Izaya clapped and cheered for the little girl in his mind. Because damn, that was rather cool that the 10-year old just told two highly ranking yakuza members where to stuff it. Shinra was clapping out loud, and Shizuo…? He just looked troubled, almost as if he was pained by what the girl had said. But why? Wasn't it a good thing that the girl was getting rid of her father who apparently set up snipers and a family of yakuza? Wasn't this a good thing?

Then a soft chuckle made its way to Izaya's ears. And he froze for the umpteenth time that day at Mikado's soft whisper.

"Exactly as planned."


	7. Bluebird's Resolution

Thank you very much for your positive feedbacks! Hopefully, this chapter doesn't disappoint. This has been edited from the lj version for whatever reasons.

I don't own.

Warning: AU, OOCness, Yaoi, language, appearance of novel-only characters (Thus far: Aoba, Awakusu-kai, Akane, and Awakusu Mikiya)

Recap: Akane is briefly reunited with her family, but it only causes her to push further away from them.

* * *

Mikado's apartment had the same layout as Shinra's did. Once you opened the door, you were greeted by a hallway. If you went in to the left, you came across the kitchen and den area. The right led to the living room, which connected to two other rooms. The difference between Mikado's apartment and Shinra's were the things inside it. For instance, Mikado's apartment walls were littered with Shizuo's framed awards, framed pictures of the people the informant regularly hung out with, and random posters of movies and games that reeked of the Yellow Scarves leader.

Shingen was waiting for them in the living room. His gas mask hid any expression he probably had on, but Izaya guessed the man had an expression of either annoyance for being pulled away from his real work or concern for Mikado who had managed to get hurt twice in two days. Besides him stood Anri, who had a first aid kit out and was looking at Mikado with a worried expression. Shingen began his work immediately, and Anri ushered the three teenage boys and one girl out of the living room and into the kitchen where Saki was waiting for them. There, the two women offered the children warm milk and cookies.

It was bizarre to say the least.

Shizuo didn't hesitate in taking the milk and leaving the kitchen to go back to the living room. Shinra sat with Akane, both enjoying the milk and cookies in silence. The two women turned to look at Izaya. Anri and Saki exchanged a secret look between one another before Saki pushed Izaya out the kitchen and towards the hall.

"Izaya-kun," she said softly. "You're working for Mikado-kun, right? Then I'm going to tell you the same thing Masaomi told me when we started dating. No matter what happens, don't try to get closer to Mikado-kun than what's strictly necessary. Today, he was lucky that it was Shiki-san who was protecting Awakusu-san. That's not going to always be the case."

"Lucky? He got shot," Izaya whispered back furiously. "He got shot this time; last time he escaped an exploding building. And before that there was another gun wound. How the hell is this luck?"

She watched him carefully; her sharp eyes bore holes into him and the teen couldn't help but to wonder what she saw. Did she see his anger? Did she see how scared he was at what she said? Did she see how shaken he was at Mikado's soft whisper? Did she see everything he was? Or did she see absolutely nothing at all but was good at hiding it?

"Izaya-kun, as someone who's a friend of Mikado-kun, all I can tell you is to get away from him. Stay far away from him and hope that you'll never get involved in this mess." She stopped for a bit, her eyes taking in Izaya's rebellious posture at those words. Then a soft sigh left her mouth and she closed her eyes. "But as someone who's also in love, I can't tell you to stay away. All I can tell you is to strap yourself down; you're going to be in a ride of hurt and betrayal."

Betrayal? Hurt? Love? What was she talking about? Izaya wasn't in love. That idea in and of itself was preposterous! He was just interested, that was all. It wasn't a crime to be interested in a smart and clever man like Mikado! It also wasn't a crime to want to get to know said man, who by the way, was also really good looking. Why Saki made it seem like one was yet another question in the pile of Mikado-related-questions that was starting to grow in the back of Izaya's mind.

Then Kida Masaomi opened the door and ran in, completely disregarding the fact that Izaya was having a serious moment of self-reflection. The Yellow Scarves leader stopped by Saki's side and pulled her tight into an embrace, whispering to her something about how he hated dealing with yakuza. Figuring that he wasn't needed (not to mention, who wanted to watch a couple make-out?), the teen made his way back into the kitchen, Saki's words still ringing in his ears.

Love? Yeah right.

* * *

"This one is yummier," Akane said, holding up double chocolate chip cookie to Izaya.

"Nuh-uh! Everyone knows that walnuts taste better!" Shinra insisted. He held up his favorite cookie to Izaya.

Anri just looked amused at the two.

The teen rolled his eyes and refused to take either cookie. He sat down next to Shinra, reaching over and grabbing a random cookie and biting into it. Ah, there was something rather soothing about eating sugar cookie, especially one that was obviously fresh out of the oven like this one. He sighed contently as the sweetness hit his tongue.

"This is really good," Izaya said. He quickly finished his and grabbed another one.

"Saki-chan is a remarkable baker and cook," Anri admitted.

Akane perked up at that. "Do you think she'll teach me?"

A soft giggle came from the kitchen entrance and Masaomi and Saki entered, their hands wrapped around each other. That was supposed to be a picture of a couple in love, Izaya mused. That was how people in love acted. They giggled silly at one another and wrapped their arms around one another. They made moon-eyes at one another, and they teased each other. They kissed, they laughed, they cried...

"… And then my beloved Celty arrived, just in time to save the day!" Shinra explained, waving his arms in the air to emphasize his point. "It was amazing! She just knocked down all the goons with her scythe and turned to me. With her hand outstretched at me, she asked me if I was alright. That was how I knew that she was the one for me. That there was no one else in the world but her."

How did Izaya miss Shinra's rant? What were they all talking about before this rant anyways? The teen shrugged. He figured it wasn't that important. Shinra went on a rant about his love for Celty practically every other hour, so he probably didn't miss anything important.

And so the discussion continued, Shinra about his love for Celty, Masaomi adding some details about his life somewhere, Saki and Akane both giggling and whispering cooking tips to one another, and Anri watching them fondly. Izaya just picked up another cookie and waited for something more interesting to happen.

* * *

By the time Shingen joined them in the kitchen, most of the cookies were gone and they were running dangerously low on milk. The doctor just sighed and said something about how his cute son was being corrupted but joined them anyways. He explained to the rest about why playing with guns was dangerous, as if it was easy to obtain it in Japan. The rest had just laughed along, throwing their two cents in.

Izaya took this as his chance to sneak away to the living room.

* * *

Mikado was on a comfortable looking couch, lying flat down on his back. Shizuo was sitting with his back against the couch, his hand holding Mikado's. The informant was fast asleep, probably knocked out by whatever Shingen gave him for the surgery. The yankee looked up as Izaya approached, a dark look crossing his face.

"Why are you here?" Shizuo asked.

It was a stupid question and Izaya made sure the blonde knew it. "Because I moved to Ikebukuro. Or did you miss that part?"

"No, as in… Why are you trying to get to know him? Why are you trying to get closer to him? And why… Why did you run towards him?"

"You ran too." Izaya was purposefully misdirecting the conversation. He wasn't going to pour his heart and soul to the stupid yankee! And surely not because he asked nicely. No. His thoughts were his alone, and no one had the right to hear it. "You ran towards him, too, knowing there was a gun."

"But I've survived gunshots before. I knew I would be fine even if I was hit again. But you… You're just a normal human. You don't have to be involved in this."

Shizuo's stormy brown eyes met Izaya's curious red. Of course, not only was the stupid yankee uber strong, but he was also indestructible to guns. Not that obtaining a gun was easy to do in Japan, but that wasn't the point here. The point was that if Shizuo could survive a gunshot, then what else could he survive? An oncoming eighteen-wheeler? Falling from the Eifel tower? Nuclear explosion?

"You've been shot before?"

"Not the point!" Shizuo growled, letting go of Mikado's hand to point at Izaya accusingly. "I'm saying that you're the most suspicious of them all! You move from middle of nowhere to here. You know things that normal people don't know. You've matched me in a fight with nothing but a small knife. You follow Mikado around like a fucking puppy. What the hell are you, and why are you here?"

Izaya frowned. What was he? He was Orihara Izaya, son of Orihara Shirou and Orihara Kyouko. He was Orihara Izaya, who had escaped the hell that was the small town in the middle of nowhere. He was Orihara Izaya, who had made it thus far on his own power, on his own knowledge. He was Orihara Izaya, gosh darn it! His name shouldn't need any other adjectives or descriptors after it!

But if that was true, then why was he there? Why was he there in the dinky apartment next door to the one that he lived in? Why was he there by the informant and the yankee's sides, as if he had been there all along? Why was he there when million little things had all pointed him the other direction and yelled at him to run? Why was he there?

Well, his logical side argued that this was interesting. This was something that no one ever saw in the small hellhole of a town. This was something that one could only find in Ikebukuro. And this sure as hell beat sitting in front of a computer, day in and day out, trying to come up with a better thing to do, looking for something – anything! – that would take his mind off of the crushing reality of real life.

But that wasn't the reason why he stayed. That wasn't the reason why he wanted to know more about Ryugamine Mikado. That wasn't the reason why his body reacted and ran into the path of a bullet. That wasn't the reason why he wanted desperately to stay there, by the informant's side, no matter what.

Because the reason for all of those was one and the same. And Saki had been able to see through him and advised him even before he knew what he himself felt. Because now, it made so much more sense. There was only one reason why because there could only exist that one reason. Everything else was excuses he created to hide.

And for once, Izaya didn't mind not hiding in front of Heiwajima Shizuo.

"Isn't it obvious?" Izaya said finally, once all of his thoughts came to the same conclusion. "I'm Orihara Izaya, the man in love with Ryugamine Mikado."

"That's rather dramatic."

Both teens froze at the sound of the voice. Mikado had one tired eye open and was watching them with a small smile. Shizuo tensed at the sight and shot Izaya sidelong glances of hate from time to time. Izaya, however, was too busy blushing to notice. All he could see was Mikado's eye on him, and he froze. Mikado had heard. Mikado heard his conclusion that he had just arrived on. Oh gods, what was the informant going to say? What was he going to do?

"Hey Shizu-chan, can you go get Masaomi and Anri? And Kadota, too I suppose. They're going to need to hear this. Izaya-kun, a word?"

The yankee hesitated for a beat. Then he nodded and left, sparing no backwards glance. Izaya wondered if this meant that he was in deep shit or he was going to get lucky. Then again, knowing the blonde, the first was more likely.

Once Shizuo was out of earshot, Mikado spoke up.

"Izaya-kun, do you know why I asked you to take this job?"

To be truthful, the teen had wondered about that. The answer to it could be multiple things. For one thing, Izaya wasn't from around here. That would alone gave him an edge that normal city-dwellers didn't have, as well as some camouflage. For another, it could very easily be that Mikado was impressed with Izaya's analysis skills. To be truthful, Izaya was hoping for the latter.

"It's because you remind me of myself," Mikado continued. He had both eyes open now, and despite the fact that Mikado had to look up to look at Izaya, the man excreted power. "You have a lot of potential, and I believe that you will go far. But with just a single step in the wrong direction, you'll end up as someone's toy."

The teen tried not to think about all the warnings he had received from everyone else. All the harsh looks and all the pitying glances. The same warnings phrased slightly differently from everyone else: _Stay away from Ryugamine Mikado. _And now he was getting a different variation of it from Mikado himself.

"That's why I need you to have all of your wits on you. The minute you lose that, you'll lose yourself. Doing drugs, drinking alcohol, falling in love, or anything that can hinder your thoughts are forbidden, do you understand? If that means you can't drink caffeinated drinks, then so be it. You cannot lose your wits, no matter what."

"That's not fair!" The words slipped out of his mouth before his mind could process everything the informant had told him. "You can't tell me what I can and can't do!"

"Izaya-kun, I've already lost Aoba-kun, and I'd prefer not to lose you. However, if you get in my way, I will not hesitate, do you understand? If I cannot come up with a reason to keep you, I'll get rid of you. It's a very simple thing. You're a smart boy, I'm sure you'll understand my logic."

And before they could continue arguing, the others filed into the room, a grinning Masaomi leading them. He leaned over to Mikado, saying simple greetings and mentioning something about Kadota being late. But Izaya was done listening in. He didn't want this at all. His mind was in a whirlwind of thoughts, all chasing one another in a never-ending disarray of chaos.

He stormed out of the room, ignoring any looks thrown his direction.

* * *

He wandered the streets of Ikebukuro with his hands in his pockets. He knew what he looked like, and he really didn't care. He hadn't had time to change out of his school uniform, and wondering the streets in Raira uniform with devil-may-care expression on his face earned him more than one look of concern. They probably thought he was some sort of a gangster-wannabe or something.

Stupid idiots.

Not that he really cared about what they thought, of course. His mind was still running through Mikado's words, which really didn't make any sense at all. Why was it so important that Izaya didn't fall in love? It wasn't even "Don't fall in love with me, I'm incredibly hot and sexy, but with a slice of danger and you might get hurt" type of speech. Rather, it was more of a warning telling him to stay away while remaining cold and distant. It was extremely annoying, and more so than that, it really hurt.

And this wasn't supposed to hurt.

Hell, he wasn't even supposed to fall in love! He had no idea how it had happened, or when it was that his interest in the informant became more than just a mild curiosity, but he was man enough to own up to what he felt in his heart. And damned he must be in a worse state than he realized, because he was sulking. Sulking because the one that he liked expressively forbade him from falling in love.

Who does that anyways? And what did it mean?

Izaya let out a frustrated growl and hunched his shoulders. The street lights were turning on, and the sun was quickly fading away. The people around him were slowly starting to retreat towards their own homes. A soft sigh left the teen's mouth. He supposed it was nearing time to leave the streets for the comforts of Shinra's apartment, but his feet refused to take him there. The back of his mind reminded him of the dangers of being alone in the streets of Ikebukuro at night.

He promptly ignored it.

Which probably wasn't his brightest of all plans, but seeing that his plans weren't going so well that day, he figured he had some leeway. But it still wouldn't have hurt to have his knife handy… He fisted his knife in his pocket and continued nonchalantly down the streets.

Izaya was about ten minutes' walk away from Shinra's place when the hair on the back of his neck stood up, and he felt a cold shudder run down his spine. Someone was following him. His hand clenched tightly around his knife and he contemplated on whether to face the person or not. The advantage would be that he could catch the other unawares. The only problem was what if the person wasn't there and he was just being paranoid? What if other people saw? What if, what if, what if?

He was thinking too much. That was what landed him in this position. So he did the next obvious thing. He walked towards an abandoned alleyway with purpose. He wasn't as strong as Shizuo, for sure, but he sure as hell wasn't a weakling. He had spent hours with his knife, practicing, moving, fighting. He knew how to use his knife to its full potential, and he wasn't afraid of using it on anyone.

And in the middle of the alleyway, he waited for the creep to attack him. Because this would at least get his mind off of things, and he desperately needed to stop thinking. He drew forth his knife and couldn't fight the smirk from forming on his face.

There was a dark figure by the mouth of the alley, slowly creeping closer. There was something strange about the way the person moved, but Izaya didn't put much stock into it. Maybe the person was drunk and the teen just had the unfortunate luck of being the target. If that was so, then the drunk was going to be in a night filled with pain.

"Love…" the figure whispered.

From the voice, Izaya guessed that it was a woman. And now that the figure was coming closer, he could make out the long red-brown hair that fell around the slim frame. The person held a kitchen knife in one hand, which would have caused the teen to laugh on any normal circumstances. But this wasn't a normal circumstance. His eyes caught the sight of the blood red eyes, and he couldn't help but to gasp softly.

_"The Slasher only goes after people out alone at nights. And if you talk to any victims about it… All they say is, 'I don't know, I don't remember.' But if you prod them long enough, some of them remember blood red eyes, thirsty for blood!"_

The teen's mouth felt dry. He had mentally laughed at it when he had first heard the gossip. But now that he was staring at the Slasher, he wasn't sure how to react. Should he rush forward and attack? Should he begin running toward Shinra's apartment now? Or maybe he was overthinking this and the lady in front of him was just a normal drunkard who just happened to posse a rather sharp-looking kitchen knife?

Oh, who was he kidding?

"Love," the lady said in a voice that sounded almost like she was swooning. "I love humans! I love you. I love everyone!"

Frankly, it was disconcerting and a little worrying. And Izaya was so distracted by the words that he almost didn't jump away when the lady lunged at him with the knife. He twisted and dodged, being sure to keep the point end far away from him as he could.

Now that they were this close, he could make out more details about her. She was wearing rather dirty button-down shirt that might have been white once upon a time. She wore what seemed to have a small resemblance to a pink tie around her neck, but Izaya wasn't too sure if it actually was a tie or if it was just some smudge she got on herself when she went around, slashing people. She wore short shorts and boots under that, but all of it was smeared with dirt and blood that made it hard to distinguish what exactly she was really wearing.

Not to mention, she smelled like she had been out in the sun all day, sweating and cutting people. Or perhaps the better way to phrase that would be "out all night?"

Izaya snapped back to present when she shoved the knife upward, towards his face. He moved to the left, sidestepping her with ease. Then with a swift movement, he sliced down with his own knife. However, she was swifter than her drunkard swaying had first portrayed, and she moved back away from the hit with ease.

"You're rather strong! I love you even more than before!" she continued to shout.

First Saki and now this random lady. Was everyone obsessed with falling in love all of a sudden? And that just made Izaya feel bitter, because obviously Ryugamine Mikado didn't feel the same way.

"Sorry, but I've got someone else." He wasn't sorry. Not one bit.

But before he could make another move, someone leapt out from the shadows and towards the lady, a katana in hand. Then using moves that could only be credited to something out of a samurai movie, the figure easily knocked the lady unconscious. It was only after the figure sheathed the katana, that Izaya realized who the figure was. After all, not many people had only one arm.

"Sonohara-san…?"


	8. Bluebird's Past

This has been edited from the lj version for whatever reasons.

I don't own.

Warning: AU, OOCness, Yaoi, language, appearance of novel-only characters (Thus far: Aoba, Awakusu-kai, Akane, and Awakusu Mikiya)

Recap: Izaya is attacked by who appears to be the Slasher after being told by Mikado that he is forbidden to love anyone.

* * *

"Sonohara-san?" Izaya repeated, this time in utter disbelief.

The said woman just calmly nodded at him before pulling out a cellphone. She spoke in quick, quiet voice, informing the other person about where she was. Then she turned to face Izaya, her one eye looking at him thoughtfully.

"Izaya-kun," she said. "Didn't anyone warn you about the Slasher?"

"They did," the teen answered. But he didn't elaborate, because in the next second, the alleyway was filled with people wearing blue masks on their faces. Even in the dim light, Izaya could make out the identical grins on the masks, and he knew without a doubt that this was the infamous shark masks that all members of the Blue Squares wore.

"It's times like these that I wonder why you guys even bother asking me or Kida-senpai to be on patrol," came the voice of Aoba. He took off his mask as he made his way towards Anri. "You always neutralize the threat before we get there."

The Blue Squares leader briefly glances at Izaya with something akin to disgust. But then his attention was on the unconscious girl on the ground, a frown on his face. "Wait… I feel like I've seen her somewhere before…"

"That's Harima Mika," Anri said softly.

The name must have meant something, because Aoba took in a sharp intake of breath and was looking at Anri as if she was a potential liability. And maybe she was. Izaya wasn't sure. He wasn't sure what was going on at all. All he knew was that he was attacked by what the tabloids called "Slasher" and that Anri had seemingly saved his life (Izaya would like to argue that he could have saved himself), and that no one was explaining to him just what was going on.

"We're not showing her any special treatment," Aoba replied sharply. His eyes were trained on Anri, but his hands were twitching towards his pocket, possibly towards a weapon. "Not with the recent actions of Awakusu-kai and Yagiris."

Anri just looked calmly back at him as if to say, "I know." But she did not speak another word. Instead, she turned her attention back to Izaya. "You should get back."

"I think I deserve some kind of explanation first, don't you?" Izaya spat back. "I'm getting sick and tired of being shoved to the back with no knowledge of anything!"

She looked at him curiously, her head tilted slightly to the side. Aoba, on the other hand, snarled at Izaya's temper, rounding on the younger boy with such rage that the teen couldn't help but to wonder what they were protecting, what they were trying so hard to hide. Because this was starting to get ridiculous and Izaya didn't care that knowing just might be the end of him.

"You have no right to ask anything," Aoba hissed. His usual cute and innocent features twisted into malicious intent and Izaya grudgingly took a step away. "There's nothing for you here. Get away from us and stay away."

"Aoba-kun," Anri said, her voice calm as always.

Aoba ignored her. As for that matter, Izaya wasn't about to stand back and be protected by Anri again. He could fight his own battles, thank you very much. Besides, he was feeling pretty prissy earlier, and this was the perfect opportunity to unwind.

"That's hilarious coming from the guy who walked away from Mikado-san," Izaya hissed back. "What? Were you going to pretend that that never happened and lap for his attention again?"

The response to those questions was not what the teen had predicted it would be. Instead of full-out anger that exploded into violence, Aoba took a step back and observed him with uncannily sharp eyes. Then a smirk graced his lips, pulling his face into a copy of the manic shark masks that the group that he commandeered wore with pride.

"You like him," he said in a gleeful voice that made Izaya's innards cringe. "You like Mikado-senpai!"

The teen shrugged, trying hard to mask the unease he was feeling. This was a tactical battle he was conducting and any sign of emotion could potentially lead him to his death. Fighting against Aoba wasn't like fighting against Shizuo, at all. No, this was much more graceful. It was a fight filled with words and hidden malice, a dance of intelligence. It was a fight that, if Izaya was frank, that he was damned well sure he would win.

"Let me guess, you told him?"

Izaya's shoulders tensed and he knew that Aoba saw, judging by the low chuckle the older man let out. But instead of mocking him like Izaya thought he might, Aoba just shook his head, still chuckling.

"And he probably gave you a lecture on why you should never let anything affect your thinking abilities or some other bullshit, right? Stuff about how you shouldn't do drugs, drink alcohol, or do other kinds of crap like that. No matter what, you can't fall in love and blah blah blah." Up until this point, Aoba's voice had a hint of amusement in it. Almost as if he was laughing at the lecture. Almost as if he had also heard it before. Then his voice took on a harsher tone, and the anger from before was back. "Guess what, kid? That lecture he gave to you? It wasn't something he came up on the spot."

Well, yeah. Izaya had guessed it was something like that. And from the way the speech was going, he could already guess what Aoba was going to say. Aoba was going to jeer and say that the lecture had been originally meant for Aoba, and because he had been there first, Izaya couldn't claim originality, because in a sense, he was just a copy. It was a stupid thing to argue about (Honestly, they weren't children!), but for some reason, it raised the hairs on the back of his neck, and he couldn't fight the tension in his body.

"It was the speech I crafted for Kida Masaomi."

The teen blinked. Wait what? Then how was that relevant to what they were talking about now? The same look of confusion was reflected on Anri's face. However, the Blue Squares leader just ignored their confusion and plowed on.

"Haven't you ever wondered why there are two color gangs in Ikebukuro instead of just one? Why Mikado-senpai didn't bother trying to combine the two when all they ever do is fight amongst themselves?" Aoba paused here, giving Izaya the chance to guess.

"To control them better. If one gets advantage over the other, it might grow too powerful in a way that one leader won't be able to sway everyone," the teen reasoned. It made sense in his mind. After all, if one leader couldn't control everyone in his gang, then it would doubtlessly fracture and grow into various smaller gangs. Therefore, in order to prevent that, Mikado had two smaller gangs that he commanded.

The Blue Squares leader let out a sharp bark of laughter that was more angry than humorous. "You think like an amateur," he spat, fire burning in his eyes. "Do you really think Senpai would have trouble controlling one gang that ruled the whole city? You said you wanted to know what's going on? Alright, let me give you a brief history lesson.

"Once upon a time, Kida Masaomi fell in love with Mikajima Saki. Their love was doomed from the start, for Kida-senpai was actually the leader of the Yellow Scarves and Mikajima-san… Let's just say that she viewed Kida-senpai as a way of getting quickly rich. Mikado-senpai figured out what was going on really fast, and he tried to stop his best friend from turning his back on his duties as the Yellow Scarves leader. But love is a poison that rots the mind and corrupts the soul.

"In order to help Mikado-senpai, I told Kida-senpai off. And instead of heeding my advice, do you know what he did? He ran off with her as if he was a fucking teenager. Yellow Scarves almost crumbled then. So-"

"The Blue Squares is a backup gang," Izaya whispered with awe. "In case Yellow Scarves completely fall apart, Mikado-san prepared the Blue Squares to replace them."

"Exactly," Aoba said. That crazy grin was back on his face, and it took all of Izaya's will to not flinch away from it. "Senpai always come up with backup plans to replace any… faulty variables."

"And he chose me to replace you," Izaya said, a smirk gracing his own lips. He was confident now. He felt like he had a firmer grasp on the situation at hand, and with that simple story, he had gained an advantage over the Blue Squares leader like no other.

But Aoba just shook his head, chuckling darkly. "You poor little bastard," he said as if speaking to a dying bird at the side of road, "Is that what you tell yourself to breathe easier? Do you really think you can 'replace' me with that kind of knave-like thinking? Frankly speaking, you disgust me, Orihara Izaya. You have no place by Senpai's side."

With a dramatic flourish of his hand, the shark mask was back on his face, the fabric's fake grin replacing the dark look of disgust on Aoba's face. Then he motioned with his hands, and the alleyway emptied of the Blue Squares members, leaving Izaya alone with Anri and the unconscious woman. Anri was watching Izaya with an unfathomable look, which he really should be used to by now but wasn't really.

"Don't be bothered by what Aoba-kun says," Anri said softly as she once again motioned for him to go back to the apartment. "He's a chronic liar."

But she didn't mention if what the Blue Squares leader had said during their conversation was a lie or not.

* * *

Izaya did not pay attention in school the next day. How could he? All he could think about was the way Anri, Mikado's secretary (of all people!), so easily took care of the Slasher and the conversation he had with Aoba. He turned over both scenes again and again in his mind, trying to make some sort of sense out of them. He tried to compile what he knew, but all it got him was a short list of the things he had seen or heard and a rather long list of questions that probably wouldn't be answered any time soon.

So during lunch break, he did the unthinkable and hunted down Heiwajima Shizuo.

"The hell are you doing here for, flea?" was the yankee's growled out greeting.

"I have some questions about Aoba-san," he said.

And that must have been something that the blonde didn't expect, because instead of snapping like he usually did when Izaya asked for information on Mikado, he blinked at him blankly. Then he slowly nodded. "Alright," he said finally. "I guess I could tell you a few things about him… What do you want to know?"

"What does he do?"

Shizuo gave him a confused look. "What?"

"I mean as the leader of the Blue Squares. What does he do?"

The yankee looked thoughtful at that. He tapped his chin as he took a bite out of a grilled chicken sandwich, which looked awfully like it was homemade. Izaya wasn't jealous. It was probably made by Anri or Saki or someone else, not by Mikado. He took a bite out of the soba bread that Celty had bought for Shinra and him for lunch.

"He argues with Kida-san a lot. Fights with him, too. Uh… other than that, I think he just mainly follow Mikado around like a puppy or something."

Basically, Shizuo had no idea what Aoba did. This was interesting, since Kadota didn't have a clue either. Izaya frowned. He was starting to really not like the picture that was being painted by this.

"Oh, sometimes when Mikado gets into a fight with Kida-san or when Kida-san is out on a date with Saki-san, Aoba-san steps up to take care of whatever Mikado wanted," the blonde added.

Izaya froze. "What?"

"Sometimes when-"

"No, no. I get that. So what you're saying is that Aoba-san is… Kida-san's replacement?"

"Pretty much yeah," Shizuo took another bite of his sandwich.

Izaya licked his dry lips. "For… for how long has Aoba-san led the Blue Squares?"

"Not that long," Shizuo said. "I wasn't there when he revived it, but I've heard enough to know about it. Rumors have it that Kida-san started dating and neglecting his duties. The Yellow Scarves weren't doing so well then. And all of a sudden, the Blue Squares returned with Aoba-san as their leader. There was a big fight or whatever, and it's been like how it is now ever since. No one really brings it up, but you can piece stuff together if you know where to find the information. Anything else you want to know?"

The raven-haired teen shook his head no. Then he left the brute to enjoy his sandwich by himself. And if Izaya was paler than usual or if he clenched his fists a little too tight, it escaped the blonde's notice.

* * *

Shinra pulled Izaya aside at the end of the school day, looking more serious than he had when he was dissecting butterflies.

"You have to stop," the nerdy boy said, his voice tinted with desperation. "You have to pull out from this stupid game that you're trying to play with Mikado-san."

Izaya didn't feel like talking to him. Not when he was like this, and trying to convince the teen to pull out when Izaya was so close. So close to getting the truth. So he just pulled away from Shinra, feeling annoyed. "Why?"

"Because things are getting too dangerous too fast. You're not prepared for anything like this. None of us are. You have to get out of here."

"What if I refuse?"

Shinra grabbed Izaya's arms and shook him slightly. "Damn it, Izaya! I'm trying to save your miserable life! This danger that Mikado is involved with? It's not going to let you go just because you're a kid. And my dad might be a miracle worker when it comes to fixing people up, but damn it, he can't bring back the dead!"

The two's eyes met and held contact; one set of desperation and the other of curiosity.

"What's gotten you so spooked?" Izaya asked. "Is this about what happened last night? Look, the Slasher was just a random woman, alright? Anri-san took care of her, and she's no more. She didn't even get to nick me or anything, so you don't even have to worry about that. I can take care of myself, ok?"

"She's not the first 'Slasher' they caught." The bespectacled boy gulped slowly, obviously trying to calm himself down. "Look, before you came along, I've had nothing to do with any of them. From time to time, Mikado-san bought me dinner, but that was mainly because I've always been Shizuo's friend. I knew of the people he hung out with, and I was introduced to few of them briefly, but I had nothing to do with them. I knew better than to get involved. But you… You're charging forward toward them at high velocity and it's only a matter of time before you crash. Izaya, I don't think you really understand-"

"Basically, you're scared that you'll get involved as well. Don't worry, I'll make sure to 'contain' my danger-levels so you aren't caught by the backlash," the red-eyed teen snapped. He pulled away from Shinra, clearly irritated. He walked away from his so-called friend.

"Izaya! You're not listening! Izaya!"

* * *

Izaya's cellphone rang with a text message. It was from Mikado, who asked him to pick Akane up from her elementary school and to babysit her for a while. It was not a message that he wanted to read, especially since he really wanted to figure out what was going on. But he did it, because he figured not doing it would have a greater consequence.

"Hey Akane-chan," he said cheerfully as a sullen yakuza ex-heir made her way over to him. "How was your day?"

"Hi Iza-nii," she said, her shoulders slumped in defeat. "I don't like school. No one here wants to be my friend."

The teen shrugged. "Friends are overrated. You don't really need them in life."

"Easy for you to say. You have Shizou-nii and Shinra-nii as your friends."

"Shizuo's not my friend," Izaya snapped. "He's an overgrown monkey with too much muscle and not enough brains. Not to mention I think Shinra might hate me a little now."

Instead of saying anything, Akane just walked silently by his side. The two were making their way back towards Shinra's place when Izaya was suddenly reminded of something important. While the little girl had been with the Yagiris, she had been told of Mikado and the people around him. This meant that possibly, she had more information on all of them combined.

"Hey Akane-chan?" he asked, getting her attention with ease. "What did Namie-san say about Mikado-san? Did she say anything about why they don't get along?"

"Of course," she said. She looked more cheerful now that they were talking again. "Namie-nee said Mikado-san stole something from her. She said that he was an evil monster and that he's gathering an army to destroy the world."

That sounded about right. After all, Mikado had both Yellow Scarves and Blue Squares. And if the Blue Squares had been formed recently, then anyone watching from the outside would say that the informant was gathering an army (though Izaya wasn't sure about the claim to destroy the world). But what was interesting was this talk about theft. Mikado could have taken anything from the Yagiri head starting from medical research to any back-dealings the Yagiri Pharmacy might have been involved with.

"She said that the Slasher protects him."

Izaya's whole body froze. Mikado? Slasher? Now that he thought about it, Akane had said something like this before as well.

"What do you mean? Are they friends? Is the Slasher covering his tracks?"

"I don't know," she said, shrugging a little. "Namie-nee just said that after the assassin by his side, the Slasher would be the next scariest person to fight against."

And suddenly, another piece of the puzzle landed in Izaya's hand.


End file.
